Lineage
by EreshkigalGirl
Summary: COMPLETE. Sequal to ANGEL which can be found on my profile page. The continuing story of the crew and their kids. Set from 3 years after BDM onward. Rayne, SK, and MI
1. DNA

**Lineage, pt 1/5**

Jayne, his thumbs hooked on his belt, frowned down at his wife. His brows twitched in worry. "Honey, it's been five gorram days. You gotta get up sometime."

River snuggled her chin further into the pillow, and looked up at him with wide, determined eyes. "One more day, Jayne. Want to give them a chance."

"Thought Doctor Lay said to go on like normal," he reminded her.

"She did," River admitted. "But our lives are not normal. Please, Jayne? One more day."

He rubbed a hand over the back of his neck, and squatted down next to their bed. Jayne sighed. He knew she wasn't getting up unless he hauled her out of that bed, and then she'd knock him out and go lie down again. He leaned in to kiss her forehead, and said, "Alright, one more day. But tomorrow your ass is gettin' up. I'm the one Mal's been gripin' out because his pilot's bedridden."

She rolled her eyes. "Captain needs to learn patience." River pecked a kiss on his nose. "And so do you."

Jayne snorted, and stood up. "I'll tell Mal he's got another full day on the bridge. You want me to bring you breakfast?"

"Yes, please."

"See ya in a bit, then."

Jayne walked to the door. He turned back for a last look in time to catch River moving to lay cross-wise on the bed with her feet propped up on the wall, and her head hanging off the edge. How that was supposed to help, he had no idea. Jayne shook his head, and shut the door behind him.

River adjusted her body until she was at an angle with the mattress, her head down, and her hips up. Hopefully her posture—uncomfortable though it was—would help the two embryos implanted less than a week ago to establish and begin to grow. She smiled in anticipation.

Shortly before the anniversary of Jayne's proposal, River was talking with the other women of Serenity in the shuttle that Inara and Mal now shared. The inevitable talk of the three children came up. Annabelle wasn't walking yet, but she said her first word—wrench, though it sounded like "lench"—and loved spending time looking at picture books. At five years old, Dewey was starting to have school work to do during the day. Angel liked to watch, and was quickly picking up how to read and do math, though she wasn't yet correcting Dewey's spelling as Simon half expected. For her third birthday, she had wished for a brother. Although they hadn't talked about it since Annabelle's birth, River was sure Jayne knew her thoughts on the matter of another baby.

"It's not that Angel is not a gift," River told her friends. "I would not trade her for anything in the 'verse. But if I could have a baby, I would. I want to so much."

"I feel the same way about Dewey," Zoë said. "I love that boy as much as if he were my own. But I sometimes wish I had gotten to have a child with Wash. We woulda made beautiful kids."

Kaylee chuckled. "See me? I'm all for keeping Bella an only child. We got a hard enough time keeping track of the one. Besides, with the other kids on board, it's like havin' three kids of my own."

They couldn't deny that. Zoë agreed, "They are a handful when they're all together. But you're lucky. You got to _feel_ that baby in you."

River nodded, and laid her hands low on her belly. "I want that. I want to know that I have made something good. I want something normal."

"You know…?" Inara mused. "Actually. Wait here."

The Companion, home for two weeks from the Training House on Paquin, reached behind one of the red curtains to a concealed shelf, and pulled out a leather bound itinerary. From inside, she pulled a business card, and came back to the low table. She handed River the card, and said, "This woman is a friend, and was a client of mine, once. Her name is Dr. Vivian Lay, and she specialized in infertility and reproductive therapy. Also, while she wasn't public in her sentiments, she was a supporter of the Independents in the war. One of her brother's died in the Battle of Santayana. I think she can help, and she will be discreet, given your special circumstances.."

River looked down at the business card, the entwined snake and staff symbol alternating with the face of woman in the first years of middle age in the left quarter and the contact information taking up the remainder. Her smile grew and grew, and her fingers tightened on the corner she held.

"Thank you."

That night, after Angel was asleep in her room, and Jayne sat on their bed to remove his boots, River knelt next to him and dangled the card in front of his face. He growled in surprise.

"What's 'at?"

"Look!"

He dropped his boot on the floor, and took the card. He gave it a quick look-over then handed it back. "We got a doctor here. Don't need to go see one."

"Dr. Lay is a specialist."

"Why?" Jayne frowned at her. His gaze traveled over her face. "You ain't sick or nothin'?"

"No." She shook her head, her mouth pursing in annoyance. River sat down and pointed to the card. "Look. She's a reproductive specialist. She helps couples who cannot have children the normal way get pregnant."

Jayne grunted, and went back to untying his other shoe without meeting her eye.

He felt yellow. River laid the hand with the card in her lap. She frowned, and reminded him, "You were the one who pointed out that it could be done if I wanted another child."

"I know."

"I want one. I want a child that will grow in me. I—"

"We ain't even been married a year yet, River. Don't'cha think we oughta give it a little more time?"

"Time for what?"

"Just…" he stood and paced to the door and back, "time, is all."

"Time for you to decide that you want to leave." It was her greatest fear, but she couldn't help voicing it.

"That ain't what I said."

"Then you don't want to have a child with me? You lied!"

Jayne huffed out a sigh. It wasn't that, exactly…he didn't know how to put it. "It's just that…things is crazy out here. We need you able to fight if things go bad. Cain't do that if'n you're pregnant."

"I can still shoot."

"That ain't the—" He checked his shout. He didn't want to wake up Angel. "That ain't the point."

"Then I do not see the relevance."

"The relevance is that this ain't the life to be bringin' another life into. Our jobs're dangerous. Ya never know who's gonna come back hurt or maimed or dead. There's lots that can go wrong."

"We raise our daughter in this environment every day."

"That's a'cause otherwise she would'a been left in that Academy."

River rolled to her knees on the bed and jabbed her finger at him. "You supported my keeping her! You wanted her to stay then, and now you're changing your vote?"

"Angel's different," Jayne insisted. "I still think she oughta be raised here, with her family, not in some creepy government school that was gonna hurt her, an' not with strangers. But that an' bringin' a life into this knowingly are different."

"How?"

He ran a hand over his hair and realized with a shock he was actually shaking a bit. "It just is. Angel had to stay, 'cause she's kin, and she deserved to be raised by her own ma. But actually choosin' to…inflict us on a kid as parents ain't fair. I'm mean an' I shoot things for a livin'. An' you're crazy."

She was knocked back onto her haunches by his words. Her mouth opened in hurt, but she couldn't find a thing to rebut with.

"Now, don't look at me like I'm tellin' ya somethin' ya don't know," he said. "You're mostly better, an' with the Pax, you're lots better than ya were, but you ain't normal no more. You still got bad days. What happens if you get pregnant, an' you end up havin' a fit? Or if ya had to get doped? Or even afterward, what happens if you get bad again?"

"You think me capable of taking care of Angel though I am crazy, but you don't think that I could take care of a newborn? You think that even in my wildest frenzy I would hurt myself or my unborn child? You think I would throw every precautionary sentiment out the airlock in order to fulfill some selfish need to procreate?"

"I don't know what some'a that means," he said. "Stop usin' words I don't understand."

"Very well, let me put it in smaller words: you are a hypocrite, and you think that I am a senseless lunatic."

"I didn't say that," Jayne argued. "Stop puttin' words in my mouth. Just that you ain't all there all the time, an' I'm worried somethin'll happen an' you'll stop bein' all there any'a the time."

"Angel is almost four," River pointed out. "She is becoming more and more independent. If we have a baby, and I have a bad day, you will still only have one infant to have to care for alone—not that you will be alone. We have family that will help on those days, as have done, as they do now."

"That ain't the only reason." He crossed his arms. "Honey, maybe ya don't remember, but I'm almost forty. Don't think now's the time to bring another little'un into my life. Might not be there for it for long."

River slid her foot to the floor, and walked over to him. She laid her hand on his cheek. "Then at least you would have a part of you to live on. I would have part of you forever. I know that sounds selfish, but I want that."

"What about you, huh?" he demanded, leaning away from her hand. "What if you die, an' I'm left raisin' not one, but two kids. I'd screw 'em up, River. I couldn't do it on my own."

She wrapped her arms around his waist. "As I said, you would not be alone. Besides, bao bei…statistically speaking, you would probably be the one to die first. As you pointed out, you're nearly twenty years my senior, and also, I'm the better trained fighter—"

Jayne pulled away from her and moved to the other side of the room. "Hope that wasn' supposed to make me feel better, honey, 'cause I gotta tell ya, ya failed."

"I'm sorry, but I do not understand why you would give me hope that we could have a child some day, and then not want to have that child with me." She rubbed her arm and looked away from him. "I accept that you have valid points, but I do not believe that they are insurmountable obstacles that we face."

She looked so betrayed. Jayne could see tears filling her eyes. Her mouth parted as if she wanted to say something but didn't know what. The anger drained out of him and left Jayne tired. It was a consensus that this wasn't how this discussion was meant to go.

"You really want a baby so bad?" he asked.

River nodded. "I do."

Jayne ran a hand over his hair, down to the nape of his neck. He knew what he said wasn't wrong. Bad things could, and would happen. One of them could die, she could go crazy—hell, them Academy folks could find out and try to take both Angel and the other kid back. Besides, he hadn't planned on being a father, ever. He always tried to make sure it didn't happen when he was with a woman before River. He wore condoms when he wasn't too drunk, and if he still wasn't sure, he pulled out. But for some reason, River wanted a baby, and he needed time to talk her out of it. "Lemme think on it."

River ran to him, threw her arms around his neck, and proceeded to pepper his face with kisses. "I love you, I love you, I love you!"

He let her kiss on him, but he didn't respond. "Yeah, yeah. Let's just get to sleep. We got a job tomorrow. Don't wanna be fallin' asleep while we got folks tryin' ta shoot us."

She hopped in bed, and snuggled beneath the blankets to wait for Jayne to finish getting undressed. As soon as he laid down, River wrapped an arm across his chest and pressed a hard kiss onto his jaw. She could feel his reluctance, his stubborn fear, and the yellow worry that coated him. River held him tighter, determined that her love for him, and his desire to make her happy would win in the end, and he would submit to having a child.

Jayne grunted. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders, like every night, but didn't kiss the crown of her head. He pulled the blanket over him and settled in for sleep that didn't come.

&xxxxx&xxxxx&xxxxx&

River WAVED Dr. Lay a few days later. Jayne still hadn't given her an answer, but she knew that he would agree to the baby eventually. It didn't hurt to get the paperwork started. Luck was on her side—as well as a follow up message from Inara—and she managed to get an appointment for later that month. One of the couples Dr. Lay was seeing finally conceived and so they dropped their appointment.

It took every ounce of persuasion River had in her to get Jayne to grudgingly agree. She pointed out that this was only preliminary, and that it usually took months or even years to get a second appointment, and longer still to have the implantation procedure done. Once her husband agreed, she still had to persuade her Captain to stop on Aten, one of Osiris's moons where Dr. Lay was based.

After an hour stuck in the waiting room, they were both subjected to a series of tests, most of which gave Jayne a super-powered, Kryptonite-proof uncomfortableness. Dr. Lay was informed of the peculiarity of this case, and River gladly signed over the eggs the Academy had harvested and Simon had kept frozen on Serenity. Two agonizing hours later, Dr. Lay told them the test results should be back in about a week, and not to worry, a mutual friend had agreed to foot the first bill.

Jayne was morose and silent the rest of the day. He refused to speak to River, and he barely said a word to Angel. He hid in his old bunk and cleaned his guns. River knew he hadn't liked all the medical poking and prodding, or whatever it was they did to him, any more than she did, and she nearly had a panic attack when she had to change into a hospital gown. And she felt the sticky, green and orange miasma of anger and shame at not having the coin to pay for the visit himself, but it wasn't feasible for them to pay for everything. Even with what they saved from every job, they didn't have enough to cover Dr. Lay's fee. He would get over it eventually. They would have a baby.

Dr. Lay contacted them in early January and told them, if they were prepared, that she found a way to squeeze them in within the next two months for final procedures since they already had harvested ovum to work from. Jayne barely had a chance to point out that this was all happening awfully fast before they were back on Aten.

"We've selected two embryos since you don't have a preference on the sex of your baby," Dr. Lay informed them. "One zygote is double X, and the other is XY. River will be implanted with each. Usually only one takes hold and develops into a fetus, so you have a fifty-fifty chance."

"What if neither of them do?" River asked.

"What if both of 'em do?" Jayne countered.

"If neither of them do, you get a free second try," the doctor answered with a confident smirk. "Trust me, this isn't like the early days of this technology when you had maybe a one in five chance. As long as River has been taking her hormone shots—" she waited until River nodded "—I can almost guarantee you that one of these will take. And if they both take then count yourselves lucky. You get two for the price of one."

On the way back to the ship, River walked as if she was made of glass and every step was a possibility for her to crash into a thousand shards. She went straight to bed, and stayed there for six days.

&&&

_Two point five weeks later…._

River tapped her foot as she waited outside the bathroom door. She had missed her period. Of course that wasn't unusual. Her monthly cycle was always a little erratic. Kaylee pointed out that having a baby was supposed to help with that. If she was pregnant….

She fiddled with the test in her hands as she waited for her sister-in-law to get out. Since she was supposed to use her first morning's urine, River held it until almost noon to make sure she got a really strong sample. She was going to kill Kaylee if she didn't hurry up!

Just as she was about to beat down the door, Kaylee came out zipping her coveralls up. She looked up to see River and jumped out of the way. River shoved passed her into the head, and locked the door behind her. She took all of five seconds to ready the test, and finally relieved herself.

Outside, Kaylee ran into the infirmary, shone a grin on Simon and Annabelle, and pressed the intercom. "River's takin' her pregnancy test! Get down to the lower lounge if ya want to hear the results!"

Jayne came down from the bay, and stood at one side of the room, his arms crossed over his chest as he stared at the floor. Zoë led Angel and Dewey down from the kitchen where school was in session, and sat on the stairs. Dewey stayed in the bay to enjoy his surprise break while Angel went to jump on the couch next to the bathroom door. Simon stood next to Kaylee with Annabelle in his arms.

Inara and Mal were the last ones down.

The Companion had just asked, "Has she—" when River flung open the door. She was beaming, and there seemed to be a glow around her. She ran across the room and threw her arms around Jayne's neck.

"We're having a baby!"

Kaylee squealed in delight and bounced forward to be the next to hug River. Inara gave the girl a hug, as well, while Mal muttered about his rules constantly being broken, and why didn't anyone ever listen to him?

Zoë stayed on the stairs. She looked down at the hands folded, hanging between her knees and tried to focus past the sudden blurriness. She was genuinely happy for River. But to see her young friend get to experience what they had before shared a common lack of….It stung.

Simon wasn't celebrating, either, though for different reasons. He had charge of the long term health of his sister, and he had been as big a proponent as Jayne in slowing down River's headlong race toward pregnancy. He didn't know what the effects of the Pax would be on a fetus. While he was fairly sure that at this stage in the depressant's potency it wouldn't effect the development, but River was nearly halfway through her current Pax cycle. She would only be four months pregnant by the time she needed another dose. He knew he couldn't give her most of the antipsychotics that he had her on before Miranda while she was pregnant. It put him in the terrible position of having to decide between the welfare of River's unborn child, or his sister's mental state.

Jayne didn't say a word. He stared down at the ground and tried to keep his breakfast down because it was churning about in his stomach at the moment. He let River go hug Angel and inform her of her impending jair-jair status. They soon went off with Kaylee, Annabelle and Inara to celebrate, and Jayne sank onto the couch letting his head fall back. He didn't notice that Simon stayed in the room with him.

"I take it you're as concerned about this as I am?" the Doctor asked.

Jayne ran a hand over his face and looked at him. "I tried t'talk her out of it. I did."

Simon leaned back against the doorway of the infirmary and crossed his arms. "I'm sure you did. But, I don't know if you've noticed, River always manages to get what she wants. Always has."

"Did manage to pick up on that, yeah." He pushed himself to his feet suddenly feeling too old for all this shit. "I'm gonna go…some'a them crates need tiein' down. Was a little shaky on takeoff."

Simon watched him go up to the cargo bay, and shook his head. His sister had done it again: she pushed so hard for what she wanted she didn't stop to think about what others wanted. He hoped River could make this right, or Jayne would end up having this child grudgingly. An unwanted child was never loved quite as much. River knew that first hand.

&&&

Angel giggled as she hugged her Daddy goodnight. She settled back when he pulled away, and smirked at him. "Toldja."

"This gonna be a habit'a your'n?" he asked the girl.

She shrugged then reached out for her favorite doll, the one Daddy gave her at her parents' wedding when he officially adopted her. "Sarah-doll?"

Jayne fished around under her pillows and blankets to find the porcelain-headed, frilly dressed doll, and tucked it in with the girl. She accepted it with a smile, her eyes blinking shut. Jayne rubbed his thumb over her cheek. "Hey, Little Bit?"

"Mmm, Daddy?"

"Ain't you a little worried about the baby? We won't be able t'pay as much attention to ya, you know."

She shook her head with her eyes closed, and yawned. "Don't worry so much. Gonna get ulcers, like Cap'um."

"Cap's got ulcers?" Jayne asked in surprise. "How you know that? You read his mind, like Mommy does?"

Angel opened one eye and gave him a 'you're so dumb' look. "No. Heard Uncle Simon warn him."

"Oh." He looked off at the wall above her head in thought for a minute. Jayne huffed, bent down and kissed Angel's forehead, and stood. "Night, Bits."

"Night, Daddy."

There was a rustle at the door, and Jayne turned to find River holding her sketchbook, her daylong smile still in place. "Just got finished putting the ship down for the night. And I see you just got done putting the girl down."

Angel giggled and turned to look around her Daddy's side. River came into the room, and sat down on the edge of her daughter's bed. Jayne backed up, and let his two girls say good night.

"I'll be across the hall."

River smiled over her shoulder at him, and nodded. Jayne left them to each other, and went across the hall. He sat down on the bed, but couldn't bring himself to get undressed. He couldn't even untie his boots. He sat on the bed with his hands between his knees until he heard River close the door to Angel's room, and come into theirs. The soft shushing of their screen sliding closed finally made him look up.

"Angel was nearly asleep when I left. She should be entering the first stage of sleep shortly." River, still grinning, tossed her sketchpad on the fold-out desk across the room, and started undressing. "Which means we can celebrate. Oh! We need to write your mother! She will be so excited to hear of her impending grandchild. I started drawing several possible combinations of features to determine what he or she will look like. Or they. After all, it's quite possible that both—"

"Stop! Just stop it!"

River jumped. She turned to face him, her fingers hooked under the band of her skirt, eyes wide. She watched Jayne surge to his feet and come to loom over her. He hadn't used his greater size for intimidation purposes since they said their vows. She didn't understand why he did so now.

"The only reason I agreed to seein' Dr. Lay in the first place was 'cause you said it took months or years t'get pregnant, an' I figured I had time t'talk ya out of it. I didn' want this, so stop actin' like I'm as happy as you are."

River stared up at his angry, trapped eyes, and opened her mouth, but could find nothing to say. She felt hot tears well up. Jayne saw, clenched his teeth, and looked away. He went and opened the door, and the first thick drops rolled out of her eyes. "Where are you going?"

"Gonna go lift, er move shit around the cargo bay for a while," he said as he stepped over the divide.

"Are you going to come in to bed later?"

He stopped with his hand on the latch, and shrugged. "Don't know." And then he slid the door shut.

River reached out for him, but his footsteps were already moving off down the hall. She let her hand fall back to her side, and just stood there for long minuets not knowing what to do. She had been so sure that Jayne would be as happy as she was. She'd felt his distance all day, but had chalked it up to him not wanting to interfere in the hen party that was going on to celebrate.

Realizing how cold she was in just her bra and skirt, River found a way to perform the nightly ritual of getting undressed, pulling on her nightshirt—one of Jayne's old T-shirts—and sliding between the covers. She huddled against the wall, the comforter pulled around her shoulder, and waited for Jayne to come back. She started rocking around midnight. The real crying started around tree when she realized she couldn't hear him in the bay anymore and he must have got up to his old bunk, which he kept only for weapons since moving to the passenger dorms.

Well used to her mother's schedule, Angel clamored into the room at seven'o'clock, and climbed onto the bed. "Morning, Mommy!"

River didn't answer right away. Her eyes were red rimmed and puffy from tears and lack of sleep. When she greeted her daughter, her voice was rough and parched.

Angel frowned and tipped her head to the side. "Where's Daddy?"

River shrugged.

The little girl squirmed on the blankets. Finally, she decided to slide off the bed. "Gonna get Uncle Simon."

River shook her head, and reached for Angel's arm to stop her. "No, baby. It's not a sleep day. I'm okay. Help Mommy pick out something to wear?"

She nodded, and they bent to pull the drawers out from beneath the bed. Angel picked out one of River's baggiest dresses under the impression that Mommy's tummy should have blown up like a balloon overnight. Since it hadn't, surely it would happen today at some point. River put the russet dress on, and pulled her white sweater over it. The red color was fitting, she felt.

River let her up the stairs to the kitchen where Dewey sat at the table with his cereal and his spelling words, studying for a test. Zoë and Inara sat with their breakfast drinks of choice—coffee and Darjeeling tea—while Mal fiddled with some sort of warm cereal on the stove. Angel climbed into the seat next to Dewey and craned her neck to look at his spelling list. After a minute, she got bored and looked up at the Captain.

"Gonna burn it," she warned.

Mal smiled over at her. "Not a bit, little one. Just lemme concentrate."

Angel shrugged and turned back to the spelling words. She pointed to one, and Dewey pulled the list away from her. There was a brief squabble while River fixed Angel a bowl of her own cereal, and Mal proceeded to burn the oatmeal. She set her daughter's breakfast before her, and headed up to the bridge without a word to anyone.

Zoë frowned after her, and exchanged a look with Inara. The Companion nodded. That was odd, especially after River's exuberance yesterday.

"First bout of morning sickness?" Inara guessed.

"So soon?" Zoë shook her head.

A few moments later, Jayne climbed out of his old bunk, halting the adult conversation at the table. Mal set his spoon into the bowl of lumpy gruel. "Uh, Jayne? Why the hell ya comin' from that direction? River have a mood swing and kick ya out?"

The mercenary glared at him, and headed for the coffee pot. He was still dressed in the clothes from yesterday, and looked like he got about as much sleep as River did. Angel ceased tormenting Dewey about his spelling and frowned at her Daddy as he sat down across from her at the table.

After breakfast, Mal went to see to the bridge to check in with their buyer for the leather they had in their bay. Inara went to her and Mal's shuttle to clean a bit since Mal tended to leave at least one shirt within easy reach when he went to bed, and then forgot them. Now alone with only the two kids in the room, Zoë watched Jayne glare into his coffee. He felt her stare and looked up.

"What?"

"Speaking as the voice of experience, one of you is gonna have to bend. It won't end any other way, situations like this. I suggest talkin' to her before lunch to keep things from gettin' worse."

Jayne's frown actually deepened. He opened his mouth to retort when the family Tam finally presented themselves to breakfast. The last thing he wanted to was to air his and River's dirty laundry in front of her brother who still thought he wasn't good enough for River. He rubbed a hand over his tired face, and ignored the first mate for all appearances.

All of a sudden, Jayne felt a tugging on his arm, and looked down. Angel stood at his side and pulled on him to get his attention. She urged him up out of his seat, turned him to the door up to the bridge, and pushed with all her little might. "Uh, Bits? What're ya doin'?"

Simon and Kaylee watched in amused puzzlement, and Zoë shook her head at the girl's ability to understand far beyond her years.

"You made Mommy cry!" Angel accused. "Go fix it!"

Jayne couldn't have felt worse at that point than if he'd been gut shot. It was bad enough he yelled at River and left last night, but Angel knowing about it made the whole situation more fragile. He just knew he was going to do something to smash it completely. He stumbled a few steps forward because Angel really could push when she wanted to, and then turned to look down at the girl.

"Alright, I'm goin'. You go finish your breakfast, or somethin'."

Angel kept glaring at him for another minute before she nodded decisively and crawled under the table back to her seat. Jayne muttered at the River-like action, and proceeded up the stairs, avoiding Zoë's eyes as he went.

Jayne found River in the copilot's chair while Mal chatted with the buyers in his superior, "I do the job, I get paid" way he had. Jayne hovered at the door, and waited until the Captain finished his WAVE. Mal signed off after a few moments, and looked between the two.

"Right. Can see you two have married people things to discuss. I'll leave ya to that," he said, and escaped back down to the galley.

Jayne shut the door after him. He didn't know if there would be more yelling, but in case there was, he didn't want Angel or the rest of the crew to hear it. After they were alone, however, Jayne couldn't think of anything to say. He started at River's voice.

"Good morning."

"Mornin'," he mumbled, and leaned back against the doorframe. He crossed his arms, damned if he was going to be the first one to talk. This was all her fault, and while he was sorry he'd made her cry, he wasn't ready to make nice, either.

River swallowed past the knot in her throat, and pushed onward past Jayne's dark blue, blotchy punches of resentment. "You didn't come to bed last night."

"Yeah. Went down to clean some of my guns. Fell asleep down there." That was a lie. He hadn't slept at all, but he hoped she wouldn't pick up on that, or if she did, she wouldn't call him on it.

She looked over her shoulder at him, noted the dark rings under his eyes and the slouch in his stance, but she turned around without saying anything. "You're absence gave me time to think. I would like to apologize. I should have gotten your full opinion before rushing through the process of envitro."

He figured she meant the getting pregnant, so he nodded. "Yeah, you shoulda."

She winced. "Said I was sorry. No need to rub it in." She swallowed again, and looked down at her hands folded in her lap. "I just wanted to have something good to come from me. I wanted a bit of normalcy. I want—" Her voice hitched, and she shook her head to try and make it go away before she went on softly. Jayne had to lean forward to hear. "I worried that you would realize one day you didn't want me, not forever. So I thought if there was something that would tie you to me, you couldn't leave. If we had a child together, you wouldn't leave…but it was the baby that drove you away. I am aware of the irony, and I am prepared to rectify my mistake."

"Now, wait. Huh?" Jayne shook his head.

"Angel is our child. She is more than enough gift for a lifetime. More are not needed, and it was selfish of me to impose my desire for another on you. It's only a handful of stem cells at this point. It will be for the best."

"What's for the best?" He went to stand next to the copilot's console, and made her look up to face him. "If you're talkin' about what I think you're talkin' about, then no. Abso-ruttin'-lutely not, we ain't doin' that."

"You don't want this. I don't want to lose you. I would rather have you and no baby than a baby and no you."

"Now, wait a minute! Just cuz I don't want the kid doesn't mean I want you gettin' rid of it, neither. For one, we spent a good amount a'money gettin' ya knocked up in the first place, an' for another, you ain't gonna lose me. Sure as hell, you ain't losin' me over this. Sure, I'm pissed. This ain't somethin' I ever wanted, but we're here. That's my baby growin' in you. You ain't gettin' rid of it."

River shook her head. "A child who is unwanted always knows it. Don't want my baby to grow up knowing its father would rather it not be here. Better to be rid of it now."

"Not gonna happen." Jayne grabbed her by the arm, and pulled her up so he could slide into the seat under her. He tugged on her arm again until she sat on his lap, and locked his arms around her. "Look, you are not gettin' rid of this baby. I went along with the whole process instead'a talkin' ya out of it, so I guess I might have some blame, too. We got nine months for me to get used to this. Just lemme get used to it. Don't go changin' things on me so fast."

River eyed him uncertainly. Jayne rubbed a hand up and down her arm, and leaned back in the seat. He sighed. "Who knows? My Ma always said it was the things ya think are the end of the 'Verse that end up bein' the best things in the world. Maybe this'll be one'a those."

"And if it's not?"

He clenched his teeth. "Then I promise, the kid'll never know the difference."


	2. Embryonic

**Lineage 2/5**

River curled into his side, careful to keep her five-month bump from brushing him. While Jayne hadn't said anything else about the baby, he was not happy. He was resigned. He was coping. But he wasn't excited or happy or any of the other things expectant parents were supposed to be—that River was. He ignored her growing belly when he could, though sometimes she caught him staring. At those moments, Jayne usually radiated a sickly yellow worry and a pea green frustration. Sometimes there were red spikes of anger, but he did his best to keep that in check.

Tomorrow they were set to see the first color sonogram. As technology progressed to the point that sonograms were almost a film of the fetus, it became tradition for the first few to be done in black-and-white, and not generally shown to the parents. Later, when it looked more like a person, the parents could see the face of their child at the same time that they were given the option of knowing the sex. Simon had adhered to that out of his sister's wishes, and the new parents' first glimpse of the life that grew in River would be seen just before lunch the next day.

River smiled in anticipation.

But, afraid that Jayne would guess at what the smile was for, she leaned in to lick his collar bone. She traced the primary veins and arteries connected to the heart over Jayne's chest as they lay in bed. She hummed in her throat, and rubbed her chin against his shoulder causing him to grin.

Jayne smirked. River's sex drive had gone way, way up since she got pregnant. They hadn't spent so much time in bed since they first got together and were still in their practice phase. He wasn't sure it was biological or if she was trying to will this into a normal pregnancy through the act.

Of course, he thought, it could be that she wanted to fuck him into wanting the baby. He knew it didn't make sense to accept Angel as his own and be a father to her, but not want to bring a child of his own into the world. He couldn't help that that was what he felt.

When he felt River's hands start to wander south, he grabbed her wrist. "River. We already done this once. Ain't you tired?"

"Mm. I could go again."

She smiled up at him, but there were dark circles under her eyes. It reinforced the idea that she thought she could sex him into acceptance. Jayne brought her hand back up and trapped it over his heart despite River's mewl of protest.

"Never thought I'd say no to sex, but you're tired. An' in your delicate condition, ya don't need to be exertin' yourself."

"I enjoy exerting myself," she purred as she rubbed her thigh against his, afraid that if they weren't intimate until he was asleep, Jayne would go up to his old bunk again.

"I'll take ya up on that tomorrow morinin'. Now be quiet, an' go to sleep."

She whined, but Jayne turned her around so he was spooning her. River gave an exaggerated sigh, and said, "Fine. We shall continue in the morning, if Angel doesn't come in and wake us up." She snuggled further back in his arms.

As River tried to calm down enough to go to sleep, she started muttering. She got into so heated a debate with herself that Jayne finally propped himself up on his elbow and scowled down at her. "What in hell are you goin' on about?"

She jumped a bit. "Umm. We have yet to discuss possible name choices. I was cataloguing my favorites in order to whittle my list down to names you might not say no to."

Jayne grunted. This was one of those topics he always avoided. If he gave it a name, that made it real, and he wasn't quite ready for it to be real yet. Of course, tomorrow he would be getting a look at it, and he wouldn't be able to get away from the reality. He might as well get this part over with now since they were both keyed up about the big unveiling in the morning.

"Got any idea if it's a boy or a girl?"

River snorted and looked up. "Yes, because a five-month-old fetus has a gender identity to brood on. The only hint I have is that I have prolonged morning sickness, which some relate to a male fetus, but Kaylee was sick into her fifth month, and she had a girl. It will be a surprise."

"Alright. Just askin'." Jayne propped himself up on his elbow. "You got any favorites you know I won't like if I hear you put it on the birth certificate without my knowin'?" 

"Well…I was thinking…I always liked Ferdinand—"

"No."

She pushed up on her elbows. "Why not?"

"Not Ferdinand," Jayne protested. "Name like that guarantees the gettin' the crap kicked outta ya."

"By whom? There is only us on the ship."

"Someone, somewhere, someday would beat the snot outta him just cuz he's got a stupid name. Let's see if we can avoid that."

"Speaking from personal experience?" she whispered. He didn't answer, so she leaned back and kissed his nose. "Are there any other guidelines for name choice?"

"Like what?"

"Some parents like to name a child after older family members, or when it is a child after the first, alliteration, assonance, consonance, or rhyming are used. I was wondering if you had a preference."

Jayne frowned. "Uh…no namin' after family members. I ain't sure what the other things meant 'sides rhymin'."

"Alliteration is using the same beginning letter or sound," she explained. "Like Jayne, Jack, Joseph, and Joselyn."

"Yeah, none a'that," Jayne nixed. "Always thought it was stupid when I heard whole families an' the kids named somethin' alike."

"Also, it would get confusing. One of my father's partners named his children Tamara, Teresa, and Timothy. I remember he waved home once and stuttered out T's before he said, 'The boy.' In that case, I like Griffin, Ulysses, Paladin, and Damon and/or Pythias for a boy, and Ch—"

"What the hell are those?"

"Huh?"

"Those ain't names," Jayne argued.

"They are so," River insisted.

Jayne shook his head. "Nuh-uh. Whatta ya got for girls, an' we'll go from there."

River huffed. "Fine. Chloe—"

"Sounds too much like Zoë, an' we got one'a them."

"I liked Agape, but we decided against same letters."

Jayne turned on his side to face her. "What's with the weird names? Just chose somethin' simple. Somethin' that has meaning."

River pinched his arm. "My own name is rather odd, thank you. An unconventional name gives a child character and makes him or her unique."

"Makes 'em easier to pick on."

"I like those names, and they all do mean something. A griffin is a mythological creature that stood for wisdom and valor. Ulysses was another name for the hero Odysseus who designed the Trojan Horse which penetrated the inner walls of Troy, Paladin means 'defender of the faith,' and Damon and Pythias come from a Greek myth about two friends who remained loyal despite certain death. Agape is also Greek. It means unconditional, devoted love as opposed to Eros, which is more like lust. I thought it had a semi-divine sound to it, and would go well with angelic Angel."

"Well, then what about Grace?" Jayne suggested. "Means kind of the same thing. Love and holiness and devotion and honorin' those that deserve honor. Goes along with Angel, too."

River rolled onto her back to look up at him with wide eyes. Jayne's devout side always surprised her, she saw it so rarely. He didn't live a very sanctified life, but Jayne was raised a church-going Christian, and he fell back on it at the oddest of moments.

"Grace," she tested. "Grace Cobb…Angel and Grace Cobb."

Jayne shifted onto his back to keep from looking at her. It did sound good, and he almost wished he hadn't suggested it.

"Can we call her Gracie?" River asked.

"Sure."

River nodded. "Grace it is."

She rolled over and settled back into the pillow. Jayne waited, but there was no more muttering. He looked at her, and finally had to poke her in the shoulder. "Hey. We only got the girl's name. We need one more."

River let her hair hide her grin. She'd hooked him! "You're correct. After all, we don't want a repeat of the Jayne debacle."

He snorted. "You heard about that, huh?"

She rolled onto her other side to look at him and didn't bother to hide her smile. "Your mother told me. If it makes you feel any better, she truly is sorry."

"Don't go laughin'! Your name's weird, too," he pouted.

"My grandfather named me!" she protested, pinching his arm.

"Ow!" He rubbed the red mark she'd left, and glared at her. "Why'd your grandpa want to go an' name you somethin' like 'River?' Seems mean, to me."

Her smile died away. "It…it wasn't intentional."

Jayne saw he'd upset her when she went to turn away again. He slid his arms around her to keep her facing him. "Didn't mean to make ya upset. Again."

"Not your fault. Thinking about my parents in relation to Grandpa is difficult. He loved me very much."

"An' your folks didn't," he finished. "How'd he name you, then?"

River wondered if she should tell him. She didn't want to make him feel worse about his indecision about the baby, but he had asked. "I was an accident. My parents already had their perfect child, and neither of them wanted another. My mother had an interior design degree, and she finally got to set up her own business once Simon started attending school full time. It was traditional for a woman to stay home to oversee the raising of her child until it was old enough to enter school, and she didn't want to lose the clients she took three years to accumulate to others who would come to take her place while she raised a second child. So she ignored her pregnancy for as long as she could. If she hadn't been in such forceful denial, she might have thought to get an abortion."

Jayne's arms tightened. He didn't like this story. It made him feel like he was in the same category as her _mei yon de_ parents, and he hated the thought of her not existing at all if her mother hadn't been such a _pian zhi de po fu_. What if someday someone would be thinking the same thing about him because he hadn't wanted this baby?

River soaked up the warmth of him, and continued. "When my mother finally resigned herself to my existence, it was too late to safely get an abortion. She complained loud and long until finally my grandfather interceded over a family dinner." She scrunched her brows and affected a deep voice. "'Oh, cry me a river, Regan! If you don't want the child, I'll take it. I'll pay for nannies, doctors, dentists, school—whatever it needs.' Of course, my father couldn't let that go. It would be a disgrace for him to let someone else pay for his child's upbringing, so he took my mother aside and had a word with her. When I was born, and Grandpa Max came to the hospital, Mom pointed to me in the bassinet, and said, 'Here you go, Dad. I cried you a River.'"

He frowned, his curiosity pricking him. "Wait a minute. How do you know? You can't r'member bein' born, can ya?"

She rubbed her cold nose into Jayne's shoulder. "No," she gave a dry laugh. "When I was eleven, I entered my difficult stage." She noticed his incredulous brow raise, and amended, "More difficult than usual. Mom and I got into a fight. Simon was away at graduate school, and Dad didn't want to get involved. We ended up screaming at each other, and she told me I wasn't supposed to exist. She never wanted to have me. I ran up to my room and waved Grandpa. He didn't like lies, and he knew I'd know if he tried, so he told me the truth." River looked up at Jayne with pleading eyes. "Simon doesn't know. He was too little to pay much attention at the time, and he's never read people well. Don't tell him."

"I won't."

They were quiet for a long time before River giggled softly. "Grandpa Max would have liked you. You would have liked him, too."

"Doubt it," Jayne snorted. "Don't have much in common with rich Core folk. You know, 'cept you."

"Maxwell Gibson did not start out rich," River boasted. "He started out as a dock worker. His father managed one of the warehouses, and he was smart, worked his way up, and finally became the district manager of the area of the Capitol City docks he started in. He was ruthless in his upward movement, and was noticed by the CEO of the trading company. He made his fortune and ended up marrying the CEO's daughter—for love, of all things! His own daughter hooked a Tam and joined an old family name with new money."

Jayne craned his neck to look down at her. "Rich people are weird."

"He was mercenary," she teased. "You two would have had so much in common."

He snorted, and dug his fingers into a sensitive spot on her side eliciting a squeal and giggle.

"Jayne?" she asked once he'd stopped the attack. "What about Max?"

"Thought we said no namin' after family?"

River deflated, but nodded that yes, they had. Jayne couldn't take it anymore. She'd been too sad lately, and he'd been the cause of it too much. He sighed. "Max, huh? Max Cobb…. I guess it doesn't sound too bad."

His wife grinned. "Maxwell Cobb has a very nice ring to it."

"Good. We got that straightened out. Can we sleep now?"

"Yes, boa bei." River kissed the side of his mouth. "Are you sure you would not like to have sex again?"

He growled, and locked his arms around her chest, trapping her own between them. River smiled, and snuggled into him.

&&&

River still hated the infirmary, but she submitted to the check-ups and tests that Simon was required to do, and those he insisted she undergo to make sure the Pax didn't have a negative impact on her pregnancy. He also monitored her brain activity for signs that the pregnancy was having a negative impact on her. She slid back in the medical chair, and reached for Jayne's hand.

"So you're actually staying this time?" Simon asked.

Jayne nodded. This was the first sonogram he would be here for. It was too much for him to take at first. During the first one, he was still dealing with the fact that River was pregnant; he wasn't ready to see proof yet. For the second one, he had a legitimate excuse—he'd had a concussion from a job gone south and couldn't get out of bed. Despite what River said, he did not get hurt on purpose to get out of going.

River nodded as well. "He is. Not going to let him get out of it, this time."

Simon pulled the sonogram machine to the side of the bed, and asked his sister to lift the bottom of her shirt over her stomach. When he uncapped the tube of gel, River stuck her tongue out at it.

"You know, mei-mei, it's really hard to take you seriously as an adult when you do that."

"It's cold," she complained. "Gives me gooseflesh."

Simon sighed, and rolled his eyes as he attached two sensors to her stomach. Being a wife and mother hadn't changed her a bit. She was still a spoiled brat.

"Am not," she protested.

"Was your brother thinkin' mean thoughts at ya?" Jayne asked.

"Called me a spoiled brat."

"Can't argue with him there," her husband muttered. He and the Doctor shared a look of understanding

She glared at him, but looked away when dark hair and a yellow dress streaked passed the infirmary doors and had to back-track. Angel stepped over the raised portal, and skipped over to the bed. River smiled, and asked, "Come to meet your new sibling?"

"Uh-huh!" the newly turned four-year-old chirped. She looked up at Jayne. "Daddy, up! I wanna see, too!"

Jayne bent down to hoist the little girl up to sit on the side of the reclined chair with Mommy. Simon squeezed some of the gel onto the swell of River's exposed stomach causing her to shiver. Angel shivered in sympathy, and the two Cobb girls shared a giggle. Jayne closed his eyes and prayed it wasn't a girl. There was only so much giggling a man could take, and they had the menfolk outnumbered on this boat already. The only good thing about the pregnancy, so far as Jayne thought, was that Simon assured him that there was only one baby. He would have had a heart attack if it had been twins.

"Okay," Simon said as he picked up the sonogram pads. "Let's just make sure there aren't any new complications that've come up."

He put the paddles on River's stomach, and the 3D, orangish image of a human head faded up on the screen. The forehead was a little big, but it was defiantly human. River gasped in delight. As they watched, the mouth opened and closed, the tongue coming out briefly. River laughed at the mimicry of her earlier action.

"Is that a baby?" Angel asked. She had a confused, "ewy" look on her face.

"Yes, that is." River grinned. "Looks strange now, but your sibling is not done growing yet."

"No cleft lip," Simon reported. "There are the hands curled up under the chin, see? I'm counting five on each hand. River?"

"Five and five make ten," she whispered. "Look, Jayne! Your nose. Our baby has your nose."

"Yeah…" he murmured. "Got your mouth, though…wide-like. Think those are my brother's ears…."

"Annabelle has River's nose," Simon commiserated. "It's not unusual for genes to get shuffled like that and children look like aunts or uncles."

"It looks like an art dough face," Angel argued. She sighed heavily. "Gonna need a helmet."

Simon chuckled and moved the sensor around a bit to pan down. "Chest and abdominal area are normal…two legs…and it's a boy."

"_Dì di_!" Angel cheered. She looked over her shoulder at her Daddy. "Toldja."

"Uh-huh…." Jayne was staring, so he only distantly heard Angel. He was too busy categorizing his son. His nose, River's mouth, Matty's ears. The baby had his chin, though. He had his hands, too, even if they were itty bitty at this point. Those kind of looked like River's feet, though—long and slender. That was his baby, his son, right there. He was real.

The worries were still there, as were the doubts. Every argument he made against having kids was still an issue that they were going to have to face when the time came. But for the first time, Jayne felt anticipation, almost excitement. His hand found its way up to rest on the side of River's belly as Simon focused back on the baby's grimacing face. That was Jayne's too. "Hi, Max."

"Max?" Simon asked, and looked down at his sister. "As in, Grandpa Max?"

River nodded still with her ever-present smile.

"Who's that?" Angel asked her mother.

"Grandpa Max was my mommy's daddy," she explained. "He would have been your great grandfather, but he died when I was thirteen."

"How?" Angel asked.

"Aneurism. A blood vessel in his brain ruptured during a board meeting." River sighed. "He should have lived many years longer."

"You two were very close," her brother said. "He always made me a little uncomfortable. Wo de ma, he might have actually liked Jayne…on first meeting. They would have gone outside to smoke cigars, and possibly spit. Huh." He shook his head. "I guess it's true that we're attracted to people who remind us of someone we already know."

"Like Kaylee and Nanny Susan," River teased.

"River!"

"You kept a picture of you and her until you moved into the honor's dorm at Medicad."

"So," Jayne interrupted, calling their attention back to the screen, "everythin's lookin' good so far, right? Nothin's wrong? He's growin', an' he's healthy, an' not…ya know…?"

"Everything is fine, Jayne," Simon assured him. "Your son is developing right on schedule. I've tested for genetic defects, and found none. There are no growth defects to be seen, and the deeper sonographic sweep I used last time showed that his internal organs are growing and healthy, as well."

"Good." Jayne nodded. "Good."

&&&

_Three weeks later. Space…_

River held her head in her hands. The waves in the room rolled her—Angel and Dewey squabbled over his homework, her pink and his green crashing into each other in trumpet calls; Kaylee turned orange with suppressed annoyance as she tried to get fluting Annabelle to eat her peas without throwing them on the floor; Simon, Mal, and Jayne were a discordant chorus of disagreement on the upcoming job and who would be participating.

Zoë tried to separate Angel and Dewey, but there was only so much space at the dinner table even with Inara still on her shift at the training house on Paquin. It was hard not to fall back into Corporal Alleyne's voice to quiet the two, but that would no doubt only worsen the situation, so she kept her temper. She looked across the table hoping for River to offer support, and found the younger woman almost crying as she held what had to be a throbbing head. Zoë took notice of the noise around her, and raised her voice just enough that her, "Quiet," was heard throughout the room.

Everyone stopped to look at her.

Zoë reached across the table and touched River's arm. "River? You alright?"

She slowly shook her head no. Jayne pushed his chair back, and stood behind hers to pull it out enough that he could pick her up. He looked down at his brother-in-law, their argument forgotten for the moment, and Simon nodded. The Doctor stood up and followed them down to the passenger dorms, down to what was now the Cobb wing. He pulled open River and Jayne's door for them then went to the infirmary.

When he returned, Jayne had tucked River into bed and was leaning over, talking quietly to her. He looked up when Simon entered, and moved back so he could pass his sister a glass of water and two pills. "These are over-the-counter pain relievers for the headache. It's the heaviest form of medication I'm comfortable with giving you at this point. Sleep for a while, and then if you're feeling up to coming upstairs, you can have some tea. I'm pretty sure we have chamomile. Only something that will calm you down. No caffeine or stimulants of any kind."

River nodded, and swallowed the pills. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. Jayne motioned for the glass, and she passed it to him. Jayne leaned down to kiss her forehead. "I'll come check on ya in a bit, 'kay?"

"Okay," she murmured.

Simon and Jayne left the room. Jayne slid the more insulating fiberglass door, made to look like rice paper, shut, and the two walked out to the common room. He stopped the Doc with a hand on the arm, and asked, "What if she gets bad?"

Simon drew in a deep breath. "There are several drugs I researched, two I have here, and others I can get that are safe for River to take that will calm her down. Sedatives." He tugged on his ear. "But they were never designed to be taken long term. We just have to keep her as relaxed as possible. I don't know how pregnancy will effect what triggers a fit. Any kind of stress may tip her off in this condition, and this being River, there's no way to tell how she'll respond."

"Cryin' in a corner, or killer woman…?" Jayne nodded. "Look, Doc, you back me on whatever I say to Mal about the job tomorrow, an' I'll make sure it goes smooth as syrup tomorrow."

"I can't say that I'll understand the tactics of it, but I'll support you."

"All I ask." Jayne frowned. "Damn. We ain't havin' a moment, are we?"

"I think we might be," Simon said. "But it's about River. Overlapping interest, and all. I think it's allowed in this one area."

"Yeah, just don't tell anybody."

"It will follow me to my grave."

&&&

_Four days later. Constance…_

Thanks to Jayne's over-preparation, the job had gone relatively smooth. The buyers had considered cheating them, but after taking in a good third of Jayne's arsenal and several grenades he had strapped to his belt, along with the deep, challenging scowl on the mercenary's face, they decided to just pay what was agreed on. Jayne watched them, Vera pointed and ready, at the back of the Mule as they left in case there was any thought of shooting them while they flew away.

After that, the crew decided to take a short break. The kids needed fresh air, and Simon needed to have a talk with the local doctor about getting some supplies for childbirthing. But just as they seemed to hit a nice patch, something bad had to happen. Jayne ended up carrying a sobbing Angel home clutching the broken pieces of Sarah-doll's porcelain head not an hour after they'd left. Kaylee held Dewey's hand as she carried her daughter in behind them.

River rushed forward from her seat on a crate in the bay. She had been enjoying the fresh air without actually having to go out to mingle with strange minds when she was already so clouded. She reached up to wipe the tears off her daughter's face.

"Angel baby," she cooed.

Simon walked up from the lounge drawn by the sound of crying. "What happened?"

"Some little _hun qiu_ took her doll and pitched it under some wagon wheels," Jayne growled. He had to make an effort not to squeeze Angel too tight in his fury. He'd bought her that doll and given it to her on his and River's wedding day, the day he signed the adoption paper to claim Angel as his own. It was a symbol of sorts. And a Rim-world mini-punk had gotten it smashed. Jayne wanted to smash the kid's head right back!

Dewey frowned as Angel's Daddy carried her back to her room. He'd seen the boy who grabbed her doll while he was with Aunt Kaylee and little Bella at the dry goods store getting candy. Now, Dewey had taken Sarah-doll a few times himself. Okay, a lot of times. In fact, he'd taken her last night before bedtime, and hid her so Angel threw a fit. But it wasn't right that somebody else took her doll. He'd seen the boy run off with Sarah-doll, and Angel ran after him, and then he'd pitched the doll under wagon wheels. Dewey was so mad at that kid he wanted to go after him and shove him. But the grownups brought them back to Serenity.

He let go of Aunt Kaylee's hand, and went up to the bunk he had next to his Mom's—who was really Aunt Zoë, but she said that his real Mommy wouldn't mind if he called her that, too. He hunted under his bed for his jar that he kept the money he got for doing chores in. Dewey emptied the contents onto his bed, and shoved the loose change by fistfuls into his pockets.

When he climbed out of his room again, Mom was walking up the stairs to the bridge with Uncle Mal. She stopped and smiled back at him. "Hey, did you have a nice time in town?"

"Uh…." He froze. He did not want his Mom to know what he was about to do. He didn't want anybody to know because he would look like he was a dork. Dewey was pretty sure "dork" wasn't the word he wanted, but he couldn't think of a better one. "I was… uh…gonna run back to the store real quick. I know where it is, and I'll be right there and back, and I won't talk to strangers. Pleeeease?"

Zoë opened her mouth to say no, but that boy could pull puppy dog eyes that should be outlawed. "You will take one of the com boxes. You will keep it on at all times. If you aren't back in fifteen minutes, I will come to get you, and you will be confined to your room for a week, are we understood?"

"Yes, Mom! Thank you! Love you! Bye!"

Dewey ran down the stairs, down the ramp, and back through town to where the dry goods store was. When he was there earlier, he'd seen one of the dolls in the shop and it looked a little like Sarah-doll. It stood on a little stand, and had a breakable head and the same kind of hands and feet. He figured that since he couldn't find the boy that broke Sarah-doll and give him a good shove, he could buy Angel a replacement.

There were three dolls standing on the shelf. Dewey stood up on his tip toes and reached for the one in the middle with the long brown curls and pretty red dress. A voice from behind him yelled, "Hey, kid! Get off that. Those aren't for playin'."

Dewey looked over his shoulder at the round-bellied man in the white apron who stood behind the counter. "I need to buy that doll up there. I've got money."

The man looked at him all squinty eyed. "How come a little boy wants to play with dolls? Don't you want a ball or somethin'?"

"It's not for me, it's for a girl," he said. Some grownups were so dumb.

A grey haired lady came out of the back room. She was in a white apron, too, and she looked down at Dewey with a kind smile. "Robert, be nice. He wants to buy his little girlfriend a present. Here, honey, I'll get that."

Dewey didn't like the term girlfriend. Just because he was buying Angel a doll didn't mean he liked her. She was all girly and annoying. But if the lady got the doll down for him, he wasn't going to say anything. He followed her to the register.

"This one's kind of expensive," the woman told him with a frown. "It's seven platinum. Do you have that much?"

Dewey pulled the money out of his pockets and let the lady count it. She shook her head. "You only got about one here. Sorry, hon. You'll have to pick somethin' else for your girl. We got some real cute rag dolls over on that bench there."

"No, it has to be like this one," Dewey said. "Can you hold it for me? I'll be right back."

"Sure." The lady shrugged, and Dewey took off back to Serenity. He was really out of breath. They didn't get to run much in just the cargo bay. Halfway back, the com box hooked on his waist beeped.

"Dewey?" Mom's voice asked.

He picked it up and pushed the button to talk. "'M comin'!"

As soon as he got back, he stopped to catch his breath at the bottom of the stairs. As soon as he could breathe without it burning, he climbed up all the way to the bridge. Mom and Mal looked over at the sound of his wheezing.

"Dewey?" Mom asked. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," Dewey said between gulps of air. "Can I can I talk to Uncle Mal? Man to man?"

Zoë and Mal exchanged surprised looks. Zoë shrugged. She had no idea what this was about. Mal, puffed up with pride, nodded, and turned to the boy. "Alright, boy. Have a seat, and we'll talk."

Dewey walked over to the copilot's chair, still trying to catch his breath. Mom passed him on the way out and ruffled his hair. He didn't really like that, but loved her, so he let her. As soon as he was sure that she was down the hall, he turned to Uncle Mal.

"Okay," the Captain said, "what'd you wanna talk about? This isn't about girls, is it, 'cause I thought we had a while yet until we had to deal with that."

"No! Ew!" Dewey's face pinched. "I wanted to ask a favor. It's an important favor, and I didn't want to tell Mom, 'cause Mom would tell Aunt Kaylee an' Auntie Nara, and they'd tell everybody else, and I didn't want anybody else to know. Plus, she might not have it, 'cause what I need is money. Not a lot! And I'll pay you back every penny."

"Money, huh?" Mal asked. "And just how much money does a six-year-old need?"

"Seven platinum," Dewey muttered. "I'll bring you back your change, 'cause I almost had a whole platinum myself. And I'll do extra chores."

"How much candy do you need?"

"It's not candy. I can't tell you, but I promise I'll pay you back. Please? Please, please, please?"

Mal considered it. The boy did seem pretty worked up over something, and he'd never asked for something like this before. "Did someone ask you to bring them this money? Did they threaten to beat you up if you didn't?"

"No. It's for…something I need to buy."

The Captain frowned, and after a few moments deliberation, he sighed. "You will be working this off, young man. And I want my change back."

"Thanks!"

Mal reached into his rear pocket and pulled out his money clip to remove a few bills. "This should cover it. You keep that com box on, or your Ma'll like to skin ya."

"I will!" And Dewey was off again. He waved as he passed his Mom, and headed back out the doors. He was winded now, so he took his time. He finally made it back to the store, and handed the lady his money.

"My goodness," she muttered. "Where'd you get all this."

"My uncle. I'll be working it off for weeks and months and prob'ly years! Is it enough for the doll?"

She looked unsure for a moment before her husband called out from the rear of the store, "He coulda stolen it!"

"Hush up, Robert!" The store lady rang the doll up and gave Dewey back his change. "Do you want this in a box to give to the lucky girl?"

"Nah. A bag'll do it."

She chucked, but put the doll in a thick brown back before she gave it to Dewey. "You be careful on your way back, now. She's awful delicate."

Dewey nodded, and made his way back to Serenity at a walk, careful of oncoming traffic, and any of the jostling of the crowd. The ship was parked a little ways outside town, so after a certain point, he didn't have to worry about someone knocking him over, and sped up. His mom called once on the com, and he stopped to answer her. Once he made it back to the ship, he peeked up the ramp to make sure no one was in the cargo bay. No body was, so he hurried inside and stashed the doll behind a couple of crates on its back so it wouldn't fall over and break.

Hours later, Serenity took off for the Black, and Angel was up on the bridge with her Mommy, Annabelle, and Aunt Kaylee, while stupid Jayne—Dewey refused to call him "uncle" as it seemed wrong in every way—sat at the table trying to glue Sarah-doll's head back together. Dewey snuck down to the bay, grabbed the doll, and tip toed down to Angel's room. He had to sneak by the infirmary, because Uncle Simon was in there. Uncle Simon was always in there. Then Dewey pulled the doll out, and laid it on Angel's bed, propped up against the pillows next to Jingle Bear. He smoothed its dress, and made sure the curls were laying right, and then high-tailed it back upstairs as fast as he could.

&&&

Angel was devastated. She was glad she knew that word because she was pretty sure this is what devastated felt like. Her Sarah-doll was gone. Even if Daddy fixed her, it wouldn't be the same. Angel was supposed to take care of her baby, and she let her get hurt. It was all her fault.

Mommy put Serenity to sleep, and reached down for her hand. "Bed time."

"Sarah-doll won't be there," she sniffled.

"Shhh." River knelt in front of her daughter, and pulled her into a hug. "Dolls are like ships, not people. Their souls don't fly away when they get broken. You just have to put them together again, and love them back to health."

"She'll never forgive me. It's disastrous!"

River pressed her lips together to keep in a laugh. Angel pulled back when she felt her shoulders shake, and looked at her in shock and accusation. She covered her mouth until the smile went away, and said, "It is very bad, but Sarah-doll loves you. I am sure she will accept your apology and offer forgiveness."

Angel nodded, but she wasn't sure. Still, she let Mommy take her down to bed. On the way through the galley, she saw Sarah-doll lying with her head mostly constructed on the table. She hid her face in her mother's dress so that she wouldn't have to see her baby in pieces.

They met up with Jayne coming down from his weight bench, but River said she'd see the _ni zi_ into her pajamas tonight. When River opened the door to her daughter's room, they found something out of place sitting on Angel's bed. They both stood looking at it for a moment.

Angel looked up at Mommy. "Where'd she come from?"

River felt the green threads attached to the doll and a light, greenish mist hovering around the doorway, and she had a very good guess at where the new arrival came from. But she couldn't ruin Dewey's secret. She shook her head, and said, "It's a mystery."

Angel let go of her hand and padded over to the bed. She climbed up, and reached for the doll as Daddy came into the room behind her.

"Where'd that thing come from?" he asked.

River smiled at him. "Not from me."

"Well, I didn't buy it. Think it was Kaylee?"

"Perhaps."

Jayne narrowed his eyes at her. "You know who done it, don't ya? Why ain't you sayin' nothing?"

"Because I don't wish to see you overcome with a fit of pride and refuse to let her keep the doll."

"_Can_ I keep her?" Angel asked over her shoulder. "Please? Just until Sarah's better?"

Jayne huffed, but he nodded. River stood up on her toes and kissed his cheek. Then she went in to help Angel into her pink nightgown with little daisies embroidered on the front. It had cost them two platinum for her birthday, but she was so proud of it, she hardly ever wore anything else to bed.

When Angel was asleep, Jayne and River slid beneath their own covers. River cast one last smiling look on the new crib set up on the other side of the small room, bought because Annabelle currently occupied Angel's old baby bed, before she set her head down on her husband's chest.

The next morning, Angel bounced up to the mess with her new doll in hand. She leaned up in front of where Sarah-doll lay, and gave her incapacitated baby a kiss good morning. It was no good breaking tradition just because her baby was sick.

Kaylee looked up from helping Annabelle with her cereal, and smiled at the pretty new dolly she held. "Well, my goodness! Where did that pretty thing come from?"

Angel shrugged. "Found her."

"She was on Angel's bed last night when I went to tuck her in."

"Ohhh," Kaylee said and smiled secretly at her.

River shook her head discreetly, and the mechanic frowned. She shook her head back, meaning "Not you?" River smiled and mouthed, "No." Kaylee looked at Jayne, and he too shook his head, and shrugged, pointing at her. Kaylee didn't buy the doll. She was fairly certain Simon hadn't, either.

Mal looked at little Angel's new toy. His forehead pinched in thought, and he glanced over at the little redhead who sat on his left. Dewey looked awfully interested in his cold cereal. Huh.

When he was done with his coffee, and he noticed the boy was just playing with the soggy flakes floating in the milk, Mal stood up and motioned for Dewey to follow him. "Come on, boy. You got chores to do. No time like the present to get started. Well, go put your dish in the sink, first. We ain't raisin' ya in a barn."

Dewey went to the sink stood on his toes to put the bowl inside. Then he followed the Captain out to the stairwell. As soon as they were around the corner and out of sight of the crew, the Captain put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed.

"That was a good thing you did."

His face went so red. "Don't tell!"

"I won't," Mal chuckled. "Just thought you should know I'm glad my money went to somethin' worthy. I'm proud of ya. You're shapin' up to be a real good man."

Dewey's chest puffed out a mile, and he walked tall down the bay to begin working off his debt.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Translations:

_mei yon de—_useless

_pian zhi de po fu—_stubborn shrew

_Dì di_—little brother

_hun qiu_—no-good bastard

_ni zi_—little girl


	3. Birth

Lineage

Chapter 3: Birth

CWC

Rated PG-13

Note: Sorry it's been so long!

_Pregnancy at 32 weeks…_

Jayne padded up the stairs to the galley in bare feet in the minutes after midnight. Angel had been asleep for four hours, but River never went to sleep. She stayed awake in bed for over two hours before she got up and started pacing their room and mumbling. After a while, she left for the galley with a notebook and pencil, and Jayne hadn't seen her since.

He could hear his wife talking to herself, and the scratching of pencil on paper from the hallway. Jayne stopped in the dark doorway and looked into the lit mess. River hunched sideways at the table in difference to her stomach. She wore her white nightgown and the maroon cow socks he bought her for Christmas a few years back. He couldn't hear exactly what she was saying, but a few words caught his ear. They were all numbers and math related. He sighed before descending the steps and going to stand over her. River didn't even look up.

"The frame is crumbling. Melting into little bits, little gelatinous bits. Sliding down. Coming apart. The algorithm is off. Need to find the source…."

"Honey, you comin' t' bed any time soon?" Jayne asked.

At that she looked up. Her eyes were wide and shone with intense light. "I have to save them," she insisted. "It's not safe."

"Riv, it's passed midnight. You need to rest." He grabbed the top of her notebook. "Come on."

"No!" She snatched the sides and started a tug of war. Jayne had leverage on her, and in a moment he wrested it out of her hands and put it on the counter behind them. "No, Jayne! I have to! It's going to melt, and the math won't stop it! The equation's off, and…there's…."

She ended with a whimper and one last reach for the notebook while Jayne tried to pull the pencil out of her fist.

"This is gettin' ruttin' old," he muttered. "Four gorram weeks this is goin' on. Bad enough I got one kid, it's like the other one's already here. Knew this was gonna happen—let it go!"

River jerked and released the pencil. Jayne felt bad for the tears that came to her eyes, but he was exhausted with doing this night after night for nearly a month. The Pax had been out of River's system for two months now. At first it was just that she got headaches, and some of the oddness that was unavoidable with River became common, but soon the true craziness came back. She was muttering like she hadn't since Miranda. There was no violence attached, but she rarely slept, and she took to spouting prophetic creep-itudes again. And then there was the constant math that neither Jayne, nor anyone else could figure out.

He pulled in a deep breath and knelt down in front of her. "River, honey, how 'bout we head on down t'bed, okay?"

"But…I have to…I need…" She gestured to the notebook.

"It can wait 'til mornin'."

Like an oil lamp being turned up, the sanity pushed back her dark delusions. River's tears fell as she lowered her forehead to rest against his. "I'm sorry. I know it doesn't make sense. I never make sense anymore. I'm sorry."

Jayne sighed. "I know, honey. Come on."

River nodded sadly, and Jayne stood, took her hand, and led her back to their bed. He got her all tucked in, and bent to whisper in her ear, "Gonna hit the head real fast. Be back in a minute."

He was almost out of the room when he heard her whisper, "Liar," but he ignored it.

Jayne headed down the hall to Kaylee and Simon's door, and tried to be quiet as he knocked. The Doc was a light sleeper, and used to being woken at odd hours when someone needed medical attention, especially his sister. The two men silently walked out into the cargo bay, and stood under the stairs so that their voices wouldn't carry as much as they spoke.

"She's gettin' worse."

"I know." Simon rubbed his eyes to wake up. "I've already given her a few of the meds. I'm afraid to give her too much, and there could be complications, it could affect the baby…"

Jayne crossed his arms. "So what am I supposed ta do? She's barely sleepin', she plays with her food unless you watch her ruttin' eat—it's like she is a child! She goes on like this, she won't be good to nobody. Mal's already taken her off flight control. Angel's afraid to go near her since she had that fit last week and screamed at her."

"I know, I know!" The Doctor sighed and tugged on his ear. "Thirty-seven weeks. That's the earliest a baby can be born without being listed as premature and having to deal with the complications that come with it. If we can keep her going for another five weeks, I'll try to convince her to let me induce labor."

"Is that safe?"

"I'll take every precaution to make sure she and Max will both be fine," Simon promised. "And, as you said, it will be better than waiting several more weeks until the baby comes naturally, with River in the state she's in now."

Jayne nodded. He grabbed onto the one of the stair supports above his head, and leaned, again wishing the Shepherd was still with them. He needed someone to talk to; more and more lately, he'd been going to Simon. It was uncomfortable for the both of them, but there was no one else who understood. "I want her safe, but I don't know how much more'a this I can put up with. I knew this was gonna be how it is when River wanted a baby. This was one'a the reasons I didn'. Just don't think I can do this much longer."

Simon crossed his own arms and nodded. "I remember that feeling. Just…" he sighed, "take it as it comes. River does have her more cogent days. I'm not through trying different medications. We'll start another tomorrow, and see if it helps calm her down."

"It's like two steps forward, ten big-assed steps back," Jayne groused.

"At least you don't hate her this time."

"Be better if'n I did. At least then I didn't lose sleep over her crazy spells. 'Cept when her yellin' woke me up from across the ship. Now I got a four-year-old ta take care of on top of River, and makin' sure Mal don't get shot. This is ruttin' exhausting work."

"You did sign up for it," Simon reminded him.

Jayne muttered something his brother-in-law couldn't hear, and stomped off to bed. Simon rubbed his eyes again. It was going to be a long five weeks.

_Two weeks later, unnamed moon in the Georgia System…_

It was cold, wet, and muddy. You didn't usually find one Rim planet that was all three. Saint Albans was cold, New Melbourne, being mostly ocean, was wet, and a little moon around Persephone called Suzette was mostly swamp, which covered the muddy. But that all three attributes were located in the make-up of one world was almost unheard of.

Needless to say, Jayne was not happy with this job. There was no gunfire, no one got hurt. They dropped off the goods, got paid, and by the time they were ready to head back to Serenity, they were caked in thick brown mud. It jumped off the ground to coat them as the raid pelted down. There was no escaping it. And when it stopped raining, the mud froze to them. No, no. Jayne was not happy. He wanted to go home, shower, clean his guns—because what good would he be cleaning his guns if he himself was not clean—and get some food. Really, it should have been apparent at that point that there was no way he was going to get any of those things in any timely manner just by the fact that he wanted them so badly.

As soon as they hovered through the open ramp of the cargo bay and set down on the floor, Mal radioed up to where Inara was watching the bridge as emergency pilot, since River was currently out of commission. "We're home. Start 'er up."

Kaylee sat around the kitchen table with the three littlest crew members. She watched Annabelle stir the mess that used to be her lunch with a little spoon, while Dewey tried to concentrate on school work. Angel, for once, was disinclined to help him. She hugged Sarah-doll and the newly named Kě-ài to her chest and rocked in her chair.

As soon as the Captain's voice came through the speaker, Angel left her dolls on the table and ran out of the room.

"Angel!" Kaylee yelled after her. She was out of her seat a second before she thought to turn to Dewey, and say, "Watch Bella!"

There was no answer from the bridge when Mal pushed the button to raise the ramp, and the ship remained still as Jayne and Zoe started to re-hang the Mule. Mal went back to the intercom with a frown, and pounded the button, but before he did more than open his mouth, a little crying girl came running down the stairs.

"Daddy!"

Kaylee was fast on her heels, but couldn't catch Angel.

Jayne looked up from securing one of the latches, and held his mud-spattered hands out to stop the girl before she could get herself all dirty. "Whoa, whoa, Little Bit! Slow up." He grabbed her shoulders and squatted down before her. "What's the matter?"

"Mommy's sick!" Angel sobbed.

"Mommy's sick?" he repeated, frowning up at Kaylee who had stopped a few steps away.

"Uncle Simon took her to the unferm'ry, an' Auntie Nara's in there, and they won't let me in."

Kaylee's face was pinched as she told them. "Her water broke."

Jayne's heart stopped a second before picking up at double pace. He let go of Angel, and ran down to the infirmary. He vaguely heard her trying to go after him, but Kaylee must have caught her back.

"River!" he yelled down the stairs.

Inara came out of the infirmary with a look of relief on her face. "_Renci de Fozu. _She's in here."

He barely waited until she moved from the door to go in. River's sallow, tear-marked face looked up at him from the exam chair. Simon stood by River's bedside with a hypodermic needle, pushing some medicine into the drip attached to the IV in her arm. He looked back when Jayne stepped his first foot over the raised portal, and left his sister to stop him.

"Jayne, stop."

"What happened?"

"Jayne, you need to go get cleaned up before you come in here." Jayne looked like he was going to protest, but Simon dropped his voice and spoke clearly. "You're covered in dirt, and who-knows-what kinds of germs that are hiding in there. You need to go wash before you come into the infirmary or you could spread infection. You could put River and the baby at risk. Go shower."

"Jayne?" River whimpered reaching out for him.

He clenched his teeth. "Be right back. Just gotta get this cleaned off. I'll be _right_ _back_. Just hang on."

He was down the hall into the dorm showers in record time. He jumped under the spray before it had a chance to get warm, and scrubbed the frozen mud out of his hair and off his arms in under five minutes. He was just rinsing the shampoo when a knock came to the door and Inara's voice came through.

"I brought you some clean clothes. I'll set them on the sink. River's asking for you."

"Just a sec."

A few years ago he would have made a comment about Inara knocking on his shower door, but he's too scared right now to bother. He stepped out of the shower and put on his old drawers, and the clean cargo's and tee Inara brought. He sat on the toilet and pulled the clean socks up after he dusted off the dried bits of mud that stuck to him from the floor. His boots were still covered, so he left them where they were, and hurried out to River.

Angel had gotten away from Kaylee again, and slammed into his legs. Jayne bent to pick her up and pressed a kiss onto her temple as he carried her into the infirmary.

"Jayne," Inara warned, "do you really think it's wise to bring her—"

"Jayne!" River called.

He paid Inara no mind as he and Angel went to stand next to the bed. "Right here, honey." He turned to Simon, "Now what the hell's goin' on? The baby ain't due for 'nother three weeks, you said. You said there'd be complications earlier."

Simon looked down at his niece. "Angel, I think you better let Inara take you back upstairs to sit with Aunt Kaylee, Dewey, and Bella, _shi_?"

"Is Mommy dying?"

Everyone in the room protested that no, she wasn't—except River who simply clung to Jayne's free hand with one of her own, and cradled the swell of her stomach with the other. The monitors started beeping, and she sobbed, "Simon!"

The Doctor checked her pulse against the read-out, and went to the screen that held her chart information. Jayne passed Angel to Inara as he focused his whole attention on the slim, pale, and suddenly very young looking woman on the bed who was obviously having a contraction.

Inara hugged Angel to her. "Come on, sweetie. Let's go upstairs and let Uncle Simon and Daddy take care of your Mommy, okay?"

"I wanna stay," the child argued. Inara carried her out anyway. "I wanna stay. I wanna stay! Mommy! Daddy! No! I wanna stay!"

They could hear her scream up the stairs to the galley, but none of the adults went after her.

Jayne leaned over and brushed the hair away from River's face. Tears leak out of her eyes as she rode out the cramp and release of her uterus while her husband whispered what he hoped was soothing nonsense noises. Simon came over and adjusted the drip on her IV.

Jayne snarled up at him, "For the last ruttin' time, what the hell happened?"

In his most detached, professional voice, Simon told him, "It's medically referred to as premature rupture of membranes. Basically, the amniotic sack broke before it was supposed to. This isn't entirely unusual. Many women experience some form of leakage in the last few months, but this was an actual rupture."

As the monitors slowed, and River's keening whimpers settled as the contraction passed, Simon's professionalism flagged and his worry took over. "In some cases—some, mind you—the mother has carried the baby for several weeks, up to two months or so without the amniotic sack. In this case, River is already experiencing contractions. These aren't Braxton Hicks. They're coming regularly, about every twenty minutes right now, and they're lasting for several minutes at a time. I'm trying one of the long-term tocolytics to try and stop the contractions, but these drugs are notoriously faulty. Even the best have only prolonged delivery by about a week."

"So our choices are deliverin' the baby now, or deliverin' the baby in another week?" Jayne clarified.

Simon nodded.

"I'm sorry," River chocked out. "I'm sorry. It's my fault."

"Naw, honey."

"River, no. It's not your fault. A lot of contributing factors could have caused your premature labor—stress, the fact that you're still relatively young, that you're petite."

Jayne looked ready to punch him. "Not helpin', Doc!"

Simon pinched the bridge of his nose to help him refocus. "Alright, look. I'm not an obstetrician. I've delivered a grand total of two babies, neither of which was premature. I'm out of my depth here, but I do believe this baby is going to be born some time in the next twenty-four hours if I do nothing. With the drugs, I may be able to prolong delivery. Give us enough time to get prepared."

"What kinda prepared?"

Simon doesn't answer, but goes to the com link and presses the button. "Kaylee, _boa bei_, I need you down here."

"What—"

"An incubator," River said. She continued when Jayne looked down at her. "Max's lungs will not be fully developed yet, and he may be hypothermic. He will need to be in an enclosed space with oxygen and heat regulated until he is larger."

"She's right," Simon concurred. Kaylee appeared at the door, and he went outside to talk with her and give her instructions on the size and properties of the incubator.

River's eyes welled up again. "I'm so sorry, Jayne. It's all my fault. I thought I could do this. Didn't know my body wasn't right. Should've known."

"Hey, hey…none'a that," Jayne murmured. "It's gonna be okay."

"Your brain says different," she argued. "Lissy and Daniel were early. Ma almost didn't make it."

He narrowed his eyes at her. "You don't look at those thoughts. This is differ'nt. You're gonna be fine. The both of ya. You're both gonna be just fine. Doc's gonna take care of you an' Max, an' it's gonna be all right." His voice cracked a little at the end, and he had to clear his throat so she didn't think he was worried or nothin'.

Simon came back in, and they waited breathlessly for the remainder of the twenty minute interval to see if the medication had done its job. There was no contraction, and the Doctor breathed a little easier. "The hypotocolytic's kicked in. This should give us about a forty-eight hour window, give or take, to get the incubator ready. I'll need to put a Wave out to my contacts and see if I can get some preemie immune boosters. Everything we have on hand is meant for children and adults."

"Should contact a dietician, as well," River said. "Preemies need special care throughout childhood."

"I'll add it to my list." Simon paused to think. They had already talked about River and breastfeeding, and come to the decision that it would probably be best to feed Max on formula since there was no telling how the Pax might affect him. But the landscape had changed, as Mal would say, and he wanted to make sure that his nephew got the best start possible. "River, I think Kaylee still has the breast pump she used. Once your milk comes, I want you to express some, and I'll run some tests. If the tox-level of Pax is low enough, I'd like you to start with breast feeding as soon as possible."

"Is that gonna be okay?" Jayne asked. "I mean, ya said…"

"Yes, but studies show a mother's milk to be the best nutrition for infants, especially preemies. It also helps to control nutrition-related diseases later in life. I'd feel irresponsible if I didn't at least try to give Max that advantage."

"Thank you, Simon," River whispered, and tugged her _ge-ge_ down to kiss his cheek.

Inara's voice crackled over the intercom. "Jayne, I'm sorry, but Angel's crying herself sick."

The Cobb's shared a look, and Jayne turned to Simon. "Doc, is it okay if'n I bring her down for a while?"

"Of course. Go ahead."

Jayne bent over and kissed River. "Be right back."

She nodded, and lay back to await the next few tormenting hours.

&&&

Kaylee had the incubator constructed in eighteen hours. It wasn't pretty, but it worked. Simon gave her one of the oxygen tanks and a hose to feed into one side of a large plastic box that once held the brand new compression coil Mal finally bought. Inside was a heating pad underneath a layer of soft blankets, and the heat level could be adjusted from outside. On the opposite side from the oxygen feed was a fan to suck out the used air and keep a good flow going through the box. Both air currents went through a sanitation chamber Simon and Kaylee worked on together, and it was this piece of equipment that took the most time.

Meanwhile, Jayne and River did their best to assure Angel that Mommy wasn't dying, and everything was going to be fine. What made it all the more difficult was that, if not exactly a psychic like her mother, Angel was already adept at reading people. Since neither of her parents were sure of what they were saying, at least in regard to her little brother, Angel had a hard time believing what they said. She wasn't ready to call her Mommy and Daddy liars, but there was some untruth to what they were telling her.

Forty-six hours after Simon administered the hypotocolytic, River's contractions started again, ten minutes apart and growing in intensity. Kaylee took over care of Angel while Jayne stayed in the infirmary, though no one got any real sleep that night. Just before midnight, River delivered Maxwell Thomas Cobb at just over five pounds, and nineteen and a half inches long. Simon silently mused that if the baby had gone to term, he might have had to do a caesarean.

"Why ain't he cryin'?" Jayne demanded from the head of the bed where he had remained firmly stationed throughout the ordeal. He refused to watch Inara and Simon at the counter where they took the baby to be cleaned up and checked over. Now, Jayne was no expert, but in his recollection, healthy babies tended to cry quite a bit. Max just made wheezing, annoyed sounds.

"His lungs are still a little under-developed," Simon reported. "The fact that he's making any noise at all is a good sign."

Jayne frowned, but he would have to take the Doc's word for it.

River sat up from her brief rest after eleven hours of struggle to birth her precocious son and then expel the afterbirth. "Is he well? Is he safe? Is he whole?"

Simon put the baby into the incubator as soon as he was finished with his check-up, and came to his sister's side. He brushed the damp strings of hair away from her pale forehead and gave her a smile. "Right now, he looks good. And I am going to do my best to make sure that he stays that way." He squeezed her free hand, and reached into a pocket on his now-bloody apron to extract her Pax inhaler. "Here you go, mei-mei. I'll be right over here."

River took the hated inhaler, and watched him walk back over to the incubator. She pulled in a ragged breath, closed her eyes, and turned to Jayne who had kept his eyes on her since the moment the contractions started again. "It's going to be okay. He's going to be okay."

Jayne held tight to her hand, squeezed it back when she offered her own as comfort, but didn't raise his head to look.

As much as she hated the need, and though she felt sane right at that moment, River knew what a strain she had been the last few months. She dutifully raised the inhaler to her mouth and pressed the release. The acrid taste froze the back of her mouth, and in a moment, she dropped into unconsciousness.

Jayne licked his lips, and finally let go of his wife's hand. He glanced once at Simon before he backed to the door. "I, uh…need ta send a Wave to my Ma. She'll wanna know what's goin' on."

Inara's head whipped around. "Don't you want to come take a look—"

"Doc said he's fine. 'S'all that matters."

Simon and Inara watched the man flee from the room as if someone had died of something communicable in there instead of the arrival of his own child. The Companion pressed her lips together, and she and Simon shared a worried look before the Doctor once again focused on maintaining the correct settings for the hastily constructed incubator, and Inara went to stand in Jayne's place by River's side.

Translation:

_Kě-ài_—lovely


	4. Infantile

Lineage

Chapter 4: Infantile

CWC

Rated PG

Jayne hurried out of the infirmary where his wife, unconscious in a medicated stupor, and his newborn son, barely ten minutes old and already struggling through life, both lay beyond his power to help or protect them. He climbed the stairs up to the bridge and saw the speckled blackness of space looming outside the windows. Mal must have heard him on the stairs because he swiveled around to see who it was.

The Captain jumped out of his seat. "What's—how's River? Is everything alright?"

The mercenary nodded then shrugged. "Max is here. Doc said he's gonna be fine. I came up to Wave my Ma. Let her know she's a grandma, you know."

Mal could see the strain the man was under, and chose, wisely Inara would say, not to comment. He just left the bridge so that Jayne could make his call. Though it was the middle of the night, Mal knew Inara was still up, having acted as receiving nurse for Simon. He went to go find her and check up on his Albatross.

Jayne sank into the chair Mal just vacated with a groan. He let his head fall back onto the seat-top, and closed his eyes. The last two days caught him and he had to pull in a quick breath to keep from crying. He ran his hands over his face a few times, and breathed deep through his fingers. They still smelled like the antibacterial soap Simon made him use, and the sweat from River's hand as she held his and pushed. Jayne wiped his eyes—wiped away exhaustion, not tears, he told himself. He pulled up the Central Cortex, and went to the personal Wave address that the mining company on Ezra gave to each employed family. It was just after lunch there. His Ma would be home.

Several agonizing minutes of static and a "Finding Signal" message later, an older woman's face appeared on the screen wired into the consol. She was beautiful several decades ago when she married a tall, blue-eyed miner and left her suburban Boarder world and moved to the Rim. Rosemary Cobb had managed to retain a bit of her softness about her hazel eyes after more than forty years had roughened and leaned the rest of her.

"Jayne-boy!" she exclaimed as a smile broke her face. "This is a surprise. How's River an' my Itty Bitty Angel Baby?"

Not even his mother's nickname for Angel could ease Jayne's tension. He couldn't even look her in the eye when he said, "Angel's fine. She's sleepin'. It's pretty late here."

When she saw the tired lines around her first-born's eyes and mouth, Rosemary's joy dimmed. "What's wrong?"

"It's River." His breath caught a bit in his throat. "She, uh, went inta labor early. She just had the baby a little while ago."

"Oh, Jayne…oh, my boy. I'm so sorry." Having three of her five pregnancies delivered early, and all but two of her children die in infancy, Rosemary better than anyone understood what her poor boy was feeling. Jayne had been there and cared for her and his brothers and sisters when they were born. Like most mothers, she could guess the thoughts that were swirling in his mind right then. "Don't you worry, Jayne. You got a good doctor, Core-taught an' all right there on that ship with you. Not like the midwives and company quacks we had out here."

"Yeah, Doc's good," Jayne agreed, though he still couldn't bring any semblance of conviction to his voice. "He said the baby's a good size for bein' early, and he's makin' noises."

"That's good, Jayne. See? Everything's gonna be fine," Ma assured him.

Jayne nodded in silence for a moment before he looked up at the screen where his mother's face hovered, and shook his head. He finally let the tears show, if not fall. "We thought that about Lissy, too, an' she didn't make it more'n a month." He pulled in a deep breath that wracked his shoulders as he stared up at the ceiling trying to keep himself in check. "An' River's down there asleep, lookin' all manner a'dead. I can't do this."

Rosemary set a stern eye at her son. "You can. Don't you let me hear you say diff'ernt again, you hear me? Your sister was born at home with no one to take care of her, just a quick trip to the doc at the mines for an immune booster, and then nothing. This ain't the same as your baby. Maxwell, right? River sent me a letter what said you decided on that."

"Yeah, Max." Jayne licked his lips. "Maxwell after her grandpa, Thomas after mine. Maxwell Thomas Cobb."

"That's a nice name, Jayne," Ma said. "When are ya gonna be out this way again so I can get a look at my new grandbaby?"

If he lives, echoed through Jayne's brain. "I dunno. Hafta ask Mal when we'll be headed 'round Ezra next. Prob'ly a while. I'll let ya know."

"You do that, Jayne-y." She saw he didn't even flinch at his most hated nickname. Her boy was all twisted up, and it wrenched her heart to see it. "Now you go an' you give that grandson of mine a big kiss for me. An' you tell him his Grammy is prayin' for him, an' lookin' forward to meetin' him face to face sometime soon."

"I will, Ma."

"And you tell River, if she needs to talk to me…'bout anything…I'm a Wave away."

He nodded.

Rosemary sighed. "You look worn t'threads, boy. You go get you some rest."

"Yeah. Prob'ly should. Gotta see ta Angel tomorrow."

"Night, Jayne-y."

"Night, Ma."

Jayne disconnected and leaned back in the pilot's seat. He propped his elbows on the armrest, and folded his hands over his stomach as he looked up out the dark windows. He let his mind go numb for as long as he could keep it. When he looked again, it was nearly one-thirty, so Jayne pulled himself out of the chair and forced his body down the stairs.

Jayne looked in on River once. She was still out cold. Her brother was asleep on the second fold-out bed: ready in case either River or the baby needed his help in the middle of the night. Angel was sleeping in Annabelle's room tonight, so he didn't need to be near her overnight. He didn't want to sleep alone in his bed, so the couch was looking mighty hospitable. He settled himself down fully dressed and fell into a deep, exhausted sleep.

&&&

Mal was the first awake just as he was usually the last asleep. Years of conditioning to look out for his people before seeing to himself kept him on a tight schedule of five hours of sleep with the occasional nap to keep him going. He wandered down to the infirmary to check on his Albatross and the newest crew member.

Laid out on the couch, his feet hanging off the end, Jayne slept on. He didn't even notice when Mal came close enough to quietly call his name. The captain was within reach to be hit or thrown, and yet the exhausted new father slept on.

"Jayne." Mal decided to risk it, and reached out and shook his shoulder. That finally got the expected response. Jayne's hand shot up and grabbed Mal's, pushing him back. The Captain stumbled over the coffee table, but having expected the assault, he had time to steady himself.

Jayne opened his eyes and saw Mal straighten himself. "Wuz goin' on?" the merc mumbled as he sat up. "Is somethin' wrong? Is Max—"

"Nah, Jayne, they're fine," Mal assured him. "Just thought I'd mention we got a fold-out cot in the storage closet 'neath those stairs there. Ya don't have to sleep all bent up on the couch."

Jayne shook his head, but as soon as it went too far to one side, he grimaced, and reached up to rub at a crick in his neck.

"See?" Mal said. "Come on. I'll help ya drag the cot into the infirmary. We can set it up between River an' the counter there where your boy is."

"No." He quickly refused, his face showing almost fear. "I mean, nah, it's okay. I'm fine here. No need for me t'be in there. I'd prob'ly just be in the Doc's way. 'Sides, Angel'll be up soon. Best if I'm out here."

Mal watched him continue to try and wake up from the scant hours of sleep he'd had. He frowned. It seemed an oddness to him why anyone who just became a parent wouldn't want to be close to that baby, and the mother of his child. Now, Mal knew Jayne had had his issues with the whole fathering-a-baby thing in the months before, but for the last few weeks, when Jayne wasn't dealing with River's crazy spells, he'd seemed almost excited about getting to meet his little one.

The Captain sat down on the table in front of Jayne, and leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees. He looked his mercenary over. This man—ball-bustin', head-bashin', shot a man at 500 yards with a bent scope, proud to have the best drinks-to-passin' out ratio of any man in their acquaintance, only afraid of Reavers and River with a knife—Jayne Cobb was balking over going to see a baby only a few hours old. He had nearly jumped out of his skin when Mal suggested it.

"How come you don't want a nice bed where you can at least stretch out as opposed to this raggedy couch?" Mal asked.

Jayne glanced at him out of the corner of his eye. "No reason. Just…better if I'm here."

Right. Subtlety not working. Plan B.

"Jayne, they're gonna need you when they wake up," the Captain murmured the way you talked to a spooked horse or a man up on a ledge. "They're gonna need you to be there for 'em. You're only gonna be half there if you sleep out here. Damn couch isn't fit for more'n a few minutes of sittin' much less sleepin'."

He just shook his head, somehow defeated by the idea of going back into the infirmary. Mal remembered the look on his mercenary's face when he'd come up to the bridge to Wave his Ma. He wore the same daunted, defeated look then. Mal had written it off as tiredness and stress. Now, he thought otherwise. Jayne really was afraid of being in the same room as that baby.

"River seems t'be doin' okay," Mal said to test Jayne's inclination.

Jayne nodded. "Doc gave her that Pax as soon as he put Max in the inc-u-bator. She's like to be up sometime t'morrow mornin'."

"Sleep'll do her good," Mal agreed. "An' Max? I ain't been in to check on 'em yet. Figured you'd've gone in 'fore you plopped down out here."

The guilty look on Jayne's face was his biggest tell. That man could bluff his way clean through Tall Card, but ask him a personal question and the truth was writ all over his face.

"Have you even looked at your son yet, Jayne?" Mal asked softly. "Even I poked my head in to see. His head's all squishy, but he's a good-lookin' boy. Obviously takes after his mama."

Jayne coughed a laugh, but shook his head.

Mal nodded. Then he slapped his knees and levered himself up. He waved Jayne standing, and when that didn't get the new father to his feet, Mal grabbed him by the arm and tugged. Jayne fought him part of the way.

"Mal, I don't wanna…."

"Come on, now," Mal coaxed. "You're a brand new daddy. Your son needs you. Least you can do is go take a look at him."

Mal practically pushed the mercenary into the infirmary—quite a feat since Jayne outweighed him by at least fifty pounds of thick muscle. They got to the counter, and still Jayne kept his eyes on the floor.

"Jayne—"

"I can't, Mal," Jayne rasped out shaking his head. "I just can't look at him if there's a chance he's gonna die. Won't do no good getting' all attached to him."

The Captain crossed his arms. "Okay, Jayne. Say he does die. Say he stops breathin' this very night and departs this world but hours after he came to it."

Jayne was going green, but Mal pressed on. "And you will have never taken one look at him. You will have lost your son without ever knowin' what he looks like, without seein' his face, without holdin' him once. Could you live with that? With the not knowin'?"

Jayne rubbed at his eyes in an A-line that could have been brushing away sweat or grit, but as neither was on the mercenary's face, Mal politely looked aside. When Jayne answered, his voice sounded like it had been dragged over cobblestones and drowned. "Nah, but it'd be ruttin' brilliant, wouldn' it?"

"What would?"

"I've killed a lot of people, Mal," Jayne reminded him. "Don't rightly know how many. I've tortured folk and turned on most everyone I've worked with. I lie an' cheat an' steal. I don't think there's one of the Mortal Sin's I ain't covered. I'm goin' t'Hell, Mal, an' I know it. I ain't got no 'lusions about that. But what better way t'pay me back for some of that stuff than God lettin' me have a child, even lettin' me get a bit lookin' forward to it, an' then takin' my baby from me?"

Mal sighed and shook his head. "I ain't Shepherd Book. I ain't gonna tell ya God works in mysterious ways, or that there's a plan that you can't see. Know enough about God that I do believe He'd do just that to make ya suffer. But I do know Book would say this, and I agree with it: Max has been blessed with the genes of two people who can live through all manner'a damage and keep goin'. He's got family that will literally go to the ends of the 'Verse for him if he needs it. Max ain't gonna give up. He don't deserve you givin' up on him. You think on what kinda father you wanna be."

With that, the Captain turned around and left Jayne in the infirmary to make up his mind. Mal had a pretty good idea of what it would be. Jayne was all of those things he said, but one thing he forgot was that he was a good father. It had surprised the hell out of everyone who knew him the way he'd taken to Angel long before he and River got together. His dedication had never flagged, either; not even when he had tried to reject it.

Jayne listened with his eyes still on the floor as Mal's footsteps grew fainter until they disappeared. Soon the room was quiet except for River's steady breathing, the beeping of the monitors, and Simon's slight uneven snore.

"I know yer awake."

Simon stopped faking sleep, and pushed himself up to sit. He scrubbed his hands over his face to wake himself up a little more, and frowned at Jayne. "You know, I hadn't noticed you haven't looked at Max until Mal pointed it out."

"Truth, Doc," Jayne demanded. "Is Max gonna die?"

Simon took a moment to thoroughly and honestly go through his mind everything he knew of Max's case and the research he'd done on preemie care before he gave Jayne his answer. "In my professional opinion, I would say that Maxwell Cobb has a greater than eighty percent chance of living. If River were awake, I'm sure she could calculate the actual probability rate for you."

"Eighty ain't a hun'ert, Doc."

"No." Simon shook his head. "Life does tend to take devastating turns no matter what we try to do to order it. Max may die. Preemies are more susceptible to sudden infant death syndrome. But I honestly believe that Max will live. He's going to be fine. Yes, we'll have to watch him for certain things, but he was born close enough to full term that most of the adverse effects of premature birth will be either minimal or negligible—er, slim to none showing up."

Jayne nodded his thanks Simon dumbing it down for him. Finally, slowly, inching his gaze upward from the white tile to the stark cabinet doors up to the drawers and the countertop and then, at last, through the plastic of the incubator at his son. Mal was right; his head was all squished up. But Jayne remembered his younger brothers and sisters having pointy heads, too, and judging from where they came from, it wasn't too surprising.

Other than the head, Max looked a lot like he had on the sonogram, and that was where Mal had been wrong. Max looked just like his Daddy—except his mouth, which now that Jayne got a proper look at was sure it was River's. His eyes were still closed, or rather, blindly half-open. His skin was absolutely white except where the veins were. As Jayne watched Max breathe he laid his hand on top of the incubator.

"How long's he gonna hafta be in there?"

Simon told him, "To be on the safe side, I want to keep him in there at least two weeks. On-world, most doctors would go for less, but on a ship, where the air is constantly recycled, and microbes are constantly circulating…two weeks minimum. I want his immune system to have a chance to develop in a sanitary environment."

Jayne nodded with his eyes still on the little sleeping form beneath the plastic. Now that he'd had the guts to look, he couldn't bring himself to look away. He wanted to make sure Max kept breathing. Jayne tracked every single rise of his chest.

Simon's voice surprised him. "Do you want me to get that cot? I mean, if you're going to stay in here…."

"Nah. No need. I been awake longer than this. I caught a few winks, so I can keep goin' awhile longer. I'm just gonna keep watch for a while."

Simon nodded. He levered himself down from the recovery bed with a suppressed groan. _Renci de Fwotzu_, he wasn't even thirty yet, but he felt as if he'd aged decades during his time on Serenity. He took a quick round to check the monitors making sure River and Max were stable. When he was satisfied that they were both as well as they could be, he went back to sleep for a few more hours knowing that Jayne would wake him if he was needed.

&&&

River stirred around breakfast time. Angel and Jayne were both in the infirmary with cereal bars while Uncle Simon went to get coffee. Angel was the first to notice Mommy's eyes start to blink, and her hand stumble up her body to her face.

"Mommy!" she squealed jumping down from the side bed. Jayne set his breakfast down and brushed his hands off

"Mmnangel?"

The little girl climbed up the bed and crawled into her mother's arms. "Hi, Mommy. I met Max."

"Mmm. Jayne?"

He moved to her bedside. "Hey."

"Max?"

"He's doin' good." Jayne nodded, his eyes lifting to the incubator on the other side of the room. "Doc said he's got a better'n eighty percent chance. That's good, right?"

"Hu…uh-huh."

Angel looked her Mommy over. "Today's a sleep day, huh?"

"Yeah…" River slurred out. "Sorry."

The girl sighed, her little face steeling up. She nodded, and climbed down to stand beside the bed like her Daddy did. It made River's drugged heart ache to see her little girl have to be brave while she slept off the initial effects of the Pax. It was also going to make the next few days more complicated because as soon as River woke up from her sleep days, Angel's brave face reverted into a self-centered childishness. She became incapable of the simplest tasks insisting that Mommy do it for her. Now Max was going to need that attention, and Angel was going to have to learn to accept that. River reached out and clumsily rubbed her daughter's cheek with a wry smile.

Jayne bent down and squeezed Angel's shoulder. "Hey, Bits, can you go get your Uncle while me an' Mommy talk a minute?"

Angel nodded and went for the door. She turned back in the threshold. "Are you gonna be awake when I come back?"

"I'll try," River promised.

Angel decided to run just to make sure she got back in time.

Jayne made sure she was out of earshot before he let out a long breath. He brushed River's hair away from her face. She licked her lips, and said, "I'm thirsty."

"Yeah, thoughtcha would be." He went over to the sink and got her a little cup of water. He pushed the button on the chair to sit it up since he doubted she would be able to do it her own self, even if she wasn't doped up. After she sipped a bit, River looked over to where Max was set up.

"He's okay, right?" she asked.

"So says your brother, and Mal, and Kaylee, and every damn person. Guess it must be true."

"I'm too tired to check on him…you know. With my brain."

Jayne looked her hard in the eye. "We ain't havin' any more."

River nodded. "'M sorry. Didn't know it would turn out like this."

He bent to kiss her just as Simon and Angel came in. "Don't worry about it."

Simon came over to take River's pulse. "How are you feeling, mei mei?"

"Sleepy. Lil' sore."

"That's to be expected." He set her wrist down and fiddled with her IV drip. "You still have more than twelve hours until the Pax is fully processed. Go back to sleep."

"Max?"

He smiled at his sister. "He's in good hands. Everybody's coming to see him. Even Dewey has minded his manners."

"Told him I'd kick him!" Angel piped up.

Jayne and River chuckled and shared a look while Simon rolled his eyes to the ceiling. River patted her brother's arm. "Don't worry. Max is the youngest. He's not going to have anyone younger to pick on."

"Somehow, I don't think that's going to stop him," Simon observed.

River's eyelids started falling. Jayne knew she'd be out again in a minute, so he picked Angel up and retrieved their cereal bars to finish breakfast. Simon checked over her monitors one last time before moving on to Max's.

&&&

Three weeks later… 

Jayne felt like an idiot with his shirt this way. But River had been doing research again, and she said it was supposed to help preemies grow, and since Jayne was the one who still needed to bond with Max the most, he was the one doing the kangaroo carry. The only saving grace was that he did this in the privacy of their bunk, and not in one of the common rooms. Jayne was laid out on his and River's bed with his one button-down shirt half closed around Max's little form as the baby rested against his bare chest.

"Why am I doin' this again?" he asked as Max's fist caught hold of another handful of hair.

"Because the sound of a heart beat is soothing for newborns," River said from where she stood at the small mirror brushing out her wet hair. "Because skin-to-skin contact promotes the production of endorphins, oxytocin, and growth hormones, and because you and Max need to become better acquainted with one another."

Jayne flinched again. "Don't you need to get to know him?"

"I had eight months to get to know him," she pointed out. "A few hours will not kill you."

He tried to scowl at her, but his eyes caught on her chest before they had a chance to travel up to her face. River was at least two cup sizes bigger than normal due to giving birth. Simon had okayed breastfeeding, but only expressed milk that he checked the paxaline toxicity of before feeding. Still, that meant that her mammary glands were getting quite the work out since Max, who Simon had found was slightly hypoglycemic, was proving his fathers son in food demand as in other things.

"Don't make face—" River looked over her shoulder at her husband and realized where he was staring. "Jayne!"

"What?"

She tried to cross her arms, but the swelling of her chest made it painful and awkward. "Stop staring at my breasts. It's impolitic."

Jayne smirked at her. "Aw, come on, honey. I got weeks yet before we can do somethin'. I cain't even look?"

River shifted in embarrassment. "I suppose….It just feels strange. Like they're not currently yours to view."

He looked down at Max with a wry frown. "Guess they belong to you for now. Don't even know what ya got."

"Jayne, that is disgustingly Oedi—" River stopped and turned to look at the door. She walked over and slid it open to reveal Angel huddled against the jamb. "Angel baby?"

Jayne craned his neck to see his little girl. "You comin' in, Bits, or you just gonna stand in the door?"

It seemed at first like Angel didn't want to come in until River knelt down and held her arms out. Then Angel launched herself at her. River whispered something in her ear, and Angel nodded. River slid the door shut behind her, and after a long hug, she led the girl to the bed. Angel crawled up next to the wall and leaned her head on Jayne's shoulder to look at Max. She sighed in exasperation.

"He's definitely going to need a helmet."

"Oh, is he?" Jayne asked.

Angel nodded decisively.

River smiled at her family. On impulse, she slid next to Jayne on the very edge of the bed. He saw what she was doing, so he scooted himself and Angel over. Max wasn't too happy about that, but Jayne shushed him with a teasing threat of being sent back. Back where was left open, and both Angel and River had to giggle. They shifted around until they could all have a little space on the bed, although Jayne felt more than a little like the communal pillow. He couldn't argue too much, though.

Jayne watched River thread her fingers through Angel's hair, messily brushing it a few times while his daughter's eyes fluttered shut. It was getting to be passed her bedtime. River kissed Max's crown softly, and laid her head down on Jayne's shoulder.

It was one of those big moments. Jayne wasn't good at catching them usually, but this one he caught. This was a big moment. He closed his eyes a minute to pray to God he didn't fuck it up.


	5. Scenes of Family Life

Disclaimer and Warnings: Firefly, the 'Verse, and all the characters therein belong to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, FOX, and Universal Studios. This chapter has some language, and talk of sex, though no actual sex. Rated T.

_**Scenes of Family Life...**_

* * *

_January 2523_

It wasn't Dewey's fault. It really wasn't, no matter what anybody said! It was Angel's fault 'cause it's always her fault, but today it was especially her fault. She'd been awful snotty since her brother was born. Now she had that doll he'd bought her—not that she knew he'd bought her the stupid thing—and she was doing that twirly dance thing her Mom had taught her. She was being so girly and gross and annoying, and nobody was watching, so really it wasn't his fault.

Jayne heard Angel crying first. He'd been in the mess with Mal and Zoë going over a map of the ground layout for the next drop site. River had her first bridge duty since she gave birth, and had taken the two-month-old with her. At the little girl's first peal of distress, Jayne jumped up from the table and ran down the aft stairwell.

Dewey was already across the bay and headed up those stairs yelling, "I didn't do it!"

Jayne glared after him, but his first priority was making sure his daughter wasn't hurt or bleeding. "Bits, you okay?"

Her only answer was unintelligible crying with something that might have been words mixed in.

"Did he hit ya?" She shook her head. "Did he kick ya?" Another head shake. "Shove ya?" Shake. "Little Bit, I'm gonna need ya to tell me in real words. I can't read minds like your Ma."

"He—he—" she hiccupped. "He kissed me! Now we're gonna hafta get married!"

Jayne opened his mouth then closed it again. A snicker from behind him let him know Kaylee, with Annabelle perched on her hip, had finally come out to check on the kids she was supposed to be watching. Jayne shot a glare over his shoulder at her.

"I was changin' Annabelle's diaper," she said. "I came out here fast as I could get her cleaned up."

Jayne stood and headed up stairs to find the twerp. "I'm gonna kill that little brat."

"Oh, Jayne! Don't hurt 'im! He's just a kid!"

Jayne ignored Kaylee's advice and Angel's continued hysterics. He ran into Zoë and Mal on his way back up the stairs. "Where'd he go?"

"Dewey?" Mal asked.

Zoë sighed and rubbed her temple. "What'd he do now?"

He pushed past her, and continued on to the mess. "Listen up, brat! Show yourself, or it'll be worse when I find you!"

"Jayne," the first mate warned.

"He's a kid, Jayne," Mal reminded him.

A rustle in the pantry drew Jayne's attention, and he yanked the door open to find Dewey pressed up against the dry goods. Teeth clenched, he nodded for Dewey to come out. Jayne waited with patience he was sure the saints themselves would envy while he stepped forward.

The boy cleared his throat. "You wanted something?"

Jayne tried not to just twist the little shit's head straight off his shoulders. That would be bad. Murdering children bad. He had to keep reminding himself of that. "Okay. Look…." He bent down a bit to look Dewey in the eye. "Listen t'what I'm sayin' 'cause this is the only advice I'm ever gonna give ya, _dong ma_?"

Dewey nodded fast.

"You never, never do somethin' with a girl unless you ask first. Nothin'. That goes double for Angel. You got that? Triple times. A _huner't_ times when it comes to Angel, _shi_?"

"Yes," he assured Jayne. "So…you're sayin', next time I kiss Angel I make sure I ask her first?"

That was obviously the wrong answer. Jayne's face went red, and Dewey knew it was time to high-tail it behind his Mom and Uncle Mal. Though why Mom was laughing, he had no idea. This really didn't seem funny, him almost getting squashed by the angry giant.

"My husband, why are you towering intimidatingly over a six year old?"

Jayne looked over his shoulder at River as she and Inara came down from the bridge. Even in a situation centered on intra-crew strife, the Companion still wore the slightly shell-shocked expression she'd had since she and Mal discovered she was pregnant. It looked like Max wasn't going to be the youngest after all.

He pointed down at Dewey like a witch hunter finding Satan himself. "Little…him! He kissed Angel!"

River waited a beat, the hand that was patting Max's back as he lay against her shoulder stilled, as she fought a smile. Finally she asked, "On the mouth?"

Zoë, Mal, and Inara laughed while Jayne scowled. Dewey continued to cower.

"That ain't funny. Angel thinks they gotta get married now."

"Not surprising, as the only couples she sees kissing are married—or living together," River corrected in regard to Inara and Mal, "and she is not versed enough to grasp the difference."

"So I'm just supposed to let him get away with it?" Jayne demanded.

"Yes," all four answered.

"Jayne, they're children," Inara said.

"He didn't mean harm," Zoë assured him. "Did you?"

Dewey shook his head a lot.

River came forward and passed Max into Jayne's arms. "Here, you take your son. I'll go inform our daughter we'll not be negotiating her dowry just yet."

Jayne and Max both grimaced, although for different reasons. Max was just gassy.

"A'right, fine," Jayne groused. He glared and pointed a finger of his free hand at Dewey. "Stay away from my girl."

With that, Jayne headed up to the bridge so he didn't have to look at the red-headed punk.

_shi—_affirmative/ok

* * *

_April 2524. Dirtside—Parthenon…_

"Maxy, watch out!"

_THUNK_!

Max fell back on his rear-end and started screaming.

"Self-Destructo Boy strikes again!" Dewey announced from the table.

River left Inara and baby Alexander in the crash lounge where the two women had been playing Mahjong, and went to collect her son.

"Oh, sweetie," River cooed as she bent down at the edge of the table to scoop

her boy up. He had gotten much bigger in his year and a half of life. An outsider wouldn't have known that he was a preemie. Indeed most were surprised he was only one. "Really, you must watch where you're going."

"Ma-ma-ma! Ooow!" The toddler wailed his pain and distress to her as a red knot

started to form on his forehead from the side of the tabletop he ran into. He rubbed at his squinting blue eyes all squished up in his chubby face. His curly brown hair stuck up at odd angles giving him the look of a wounded teddy bear.

Six-year-old Angel looked up from her second grade level homework and sighed.

"Told you he was going to need a helmet. No one ever listens."

Dewey, seated a few chairs over, snickered. The Washburn sense of humor was strong in him, but the nearly eight-year-old's caustic approach often got him in trouble with the adults and Angel. The girl reached over and pinched him in defense of her brother.

Mal, Zoë, and Jayne walked up the stairs. They'd only been gone a few hours on a milk run, but Angel ran to greet her daddy like it had been days since she'd seen him last.

"Daddy!" she squealed as Jayne swooped her up in his arms with a groan.

"Urgh, Bits. I think you're gettin' too big for this."

"No I'm not." She smacked a loud kiss on his cheek.

Dewey was having trouble with his sixes multiplication table, so Zoë went to see how much progress he'd made on his homework. The Captain headed over to the lounge to share his planning triumph with Inara and Xander. He picked his son up, and held his arm out to Inara. They hadn't gotten married, which worried Mal some, but Inara was on _Serenity_ full time for an extended maternity leave—though it was listed differently in the Guild registry. Mal was determined to be happy with what he could get.

"So, what happened while we were gone?" Mal asked the crew at large.

"Max ran into the table again," Angel reported.

"The boy does seem to have a penchant for hurtin' himself." Mal looked down into the darkening eyes of own son. "You ain't gonna be such a bull in a china shop, are ya? No. I didn't think so."

Jayne sighed and put Angel down so he could go and check on the walking ball of klutz that was his son. "Lemme see."

River turned so he could get a look at Max's face. There was a big pink goose egg starting to rise on his head. Jayne gently rubbed his thumb across it, and was encouraged that Max was angrier at his owwie pressed on than in serious pain.

Mal and Inara, after sharing a look, took Xander up to the bridge to take off from Parthenon and head into Persephone to meet with Badger for a good old fashioned salvage mission. They were still new enough to parenting that they wanted all the alone time with their tiny little person that they could get. And they didn't want to get in the middle of another disagreement between River and Jayne about the health of their youngest.

"Hey, guys, what's goin' on?" Kaylee asked as she helped Annabelle down the stairs from the engine room. The little girl was dressed in a little pink dress with white bubbles, and her hair was in pigtails. Kaylee directed her to take a seat across from the other two children, and went to see what the business with Max was.

"Ooooh. Think Simon should take a look at it?"

"Nah—" Jayne started.

"Yes!" River agreed.

The two parents looked at each other. Jayne rolled his eyes. "Riv, it's a little lump. He's not gonna die cuz he hit his head. Cobb men are tough. Got hard heads."

"Jayne, he could have a concussion. Or a subdural hematoma!"

"He got bonked on the head."

Kaylee backed away from the squabble unnoticed and went to get her own daughter a snack while the ship heaved herself from the ground.

"Your son is injured." River planted one hand on her hip for emphasis, but immediately had to use it to support her not-so-little little boy.

"He's fine. He'd even stop crying if you stopped babyin' him."

"Max _is_ a baby."

"He's a boy."

Simon walked into the room just as _Serenity_ shuddered through atmo. He was greeted to expectant stares by his sister and brother-in-law. He braced himself for whatever was about to be headed his way.

"Simon!" River rushed over. "_We_ would like you to look at Max's head. He hit it."

"Again?"

At his sister's glare, the Doctor sighed. "Shall I give him a CAT scan, an MRI, the whole work-up, or would a simple physical do?"

"Simon!"

Jayne sent his brother-in-law a nod in approval as he headed for the pantry.

"River, Max hits his head all the time. All little kids do. Dewey did—"

"Did not!" the boy in question denied.

"—Angel did, Annabelle did, and yes, even you did as a child. As long as he's not bleeding, and appears to be acting normally, he's fine."

"'S what I said!" Jayne crowed earning a black look from his wife as she carefully set her son down with a few of his toys. "My only question is how did the child of two such stealthy people come out so clumsy?"

Simon watched the lumbering merc paw through the dry foods. "Yes. Stealthy."

"Hey, I'll have you know I'm very stealthy!" Jayne's voice called out of the closet.

"Now boys," Zoë cautioned from her seat next to Dewey.

Simon shook his head and went to see what his own precious progeny was up to. "What have you got there, Bella?"

"Drawing." She looked up at him with smiling blue eyes. She had one of the sketchbooks River had given to her to keep the little girl from doing her art Lasceaux-style with her crayons on the walls of _Serenity_. Simon looked down expecting the abstract doodles of a four-year old. What he saw was remarkably different.

"_Wo de ma_….Kaylee?"

Kaylee walked over wearing a confused expression. "What's up?"

"Did you see what Annabelle was doing?"

"No, wha…whoa."

Angel and Dewey stopped working to lean over and look, too. Dewey whistled which drew Jayne and River's attention. Even Zoë looked impressed.

"Sweetie," Kaylee asked her daughter, "is that…?"

"It's the engine."

It was the engine, but only if _Serenity_ had truly become a living being around them. It was half mechanical and half flesh. Annabelle's drawing looked like a clockwork heart. It was fascinating, and more than a little disturbing.

"Good use of shading," River commented. "I like how the aorta was used in place of the dry-feed. It's a good use of comparison and simile in visual form."

Simon cleared his throat and asked, "Where did you…?"

"Saw it in yer cycle-peeda," Annabelle explained. "Heart goes thump-thump, just like the engine. It's neat!"

Kaylee didn't know what to say. Her baby girl was only four—not even a whole hand yet! And yet she was drawing heart-engine-things. It might not have been the most accurate representation of either, but it was close enough. How had they missed this ability? Was it that she was so annoyed at having to scrub purple wax off the engine room wall she didn't notice what the drawings were of?

Maybe it was a fluke. Yeah. That was it.

Simon seemed to want to test their daughter, too. "Bella, _xuān niū_, do you think you can do this again, but the opposite way? Can you draw a human heart with machine parts?"

Bella shrugged.

"Could you try?"

She sighed as if yielding under great persuasion. "I guess so."

She flipped the page in her sketchbook and started drawing in messy lines, like any preschooler would. Kaylee found it hard to believe that something frighteningly crossed between a heart and an engine might be the end result.

Simon saw the stricken look on his wife's face and pulled her over to the kitchen. "_Bao bei_, are you alright?"

"I…yeah. I mean…I realize this probably makes me a bad parent, and," she looked at River who had followed them, "this might offend you, but I don't know what to do with a genius child. Should I start buying her educational games? Books! I should get her more books, but she can't read yet. Or can she? Maybe she can read, and I just don't know it like I didn't know she could draw engine-hearts. How did I miss that?"

"Kaylee, Kaylee!" Simon hugged her. "This is not the end of the 'Verse. It might have been a fluke, after all. Or maybe she's just a savant—abnormally good at one thing, but normal in all other respects."

"The worst thing you could do is start to treat her differently," River warned. Her eyes were sad, obviously thinking about what her own childhood was like. "She's still your daughter. She needs you to love her and to treat her like a child. She's not to be locked away like a freak, or paraded around like your medal of reproductive honor."

Kaylee pulled away from her husband's arms to encircle her sister-in-law. "Oh, sweetie, I wasn't gonna do that. I just meant, how do I give her all the advantages her big brain will need?"

"I know you wouldn't. I'm just giving you the advice I wish someone had given my parents."

Kaylee squeezed tighter, and Simon wished once again that he'd punched his father when he'd had the chance.

The moment was broken by Angel's indignant squeal. "Mooooommaaaaaaa! Max is ruining my homework!"

And indeed, Max had gotten a handful of some of his sister's papers and a tug of war was going on.

"How did he even get to that side of the table in one piece?" Simon asked.

"I knew it!" Jayne said. "That whole clumsiness is just a ruse. Boy's got stealth in his genes."

"Please go and stealthily remove your daughter's school work from his hands," River said.

"Dadyyyyyy! They're ripping!"

_xuān niū_ – clever/pretty little girl

* * *

_March 2526._ _The Black…_

"I'm sorry, Mal," she murmured.

"You're sorry? Six years, and you're sorry?"

"Mal…please don't be this way. It took both of us to get into this situation, not just me. I think you'll agree that—"

"No, 'Nara, I'm not agreeing to anything right now."

"We're not good for each other! We fight all the time. We always have. It's only gotten worse since Xander was born, not better."

"So are you blaming him for this?"

"No, I'd never do that. I'm just saying that the two of us, having a child, trying to raise him like we have for the last year and a half—here for three weeks, at the training house for three weeks—it's not working. It's creating more problems. You want to see him more, but I want to keep him safe with me."

"You don't trust me, is what. That's why you won't leave him here. It's why you won't just stay here. You think Xander's being here puts him in danger."

"Doesn't it? I mean, you're not exactly known for having risk-free plans, Mal. You're Mr. Daring Adventure. Everything has to be the hard way with you, and it always involves guns and violence and near-arrests and goddamn pirates! _Serenity_ almost got taken by pirates! Xander could have been held hostage, or tortured, or killed by those men."

"But he wasn't."

"But he could have been."

"He was safe and hid just like Angel, and Max, and Dewey, and Annabelle were. We weren't none of us gonna let the kids get hurt."

"_Na mei guan xi…. _I just can't do this anymore. It was bad enough when I only had to worry about you getting hurt. I can't bear to think about something happening to my son. And my worry is eating away at everything we once were."

"Once were? But not anymore, right, 'Nara?"

"Don't turn me into the villain, Mal. Back then, I was…_Renci de Fuotzu_. I was a Companion bending the rules for love. It's tragically clichéd, really. But I'm a mother now, and that has to come before everything: before you, before my job, before my friends and family. Xander has to come first."

"…What are you gonna do?"

"Sheydra let me know that I would always have a permanent place at the Academy on Paquin if I wanted it. All the girls love Xander when we're there. My odd schedule was always problematic for the Guild. They've been pressing me for a while about taking clients while away from the training house—I haven't, before you ask. But now, I thought I could go to teach full time, and I would just take him with me. He'll like living on Paquin. It's beautiful there, and he'll have the very best education."

"So you're just going to take my son and leave and I'm never going to see him again?"

"No! Never. I'd never do that to you or to him. You can come and visit."

"Visit! I don't want to visit, Inara, I want my son!"

"Are you going to try to take him from me? Are you going to sue for custody? Because I can promise you, no judge on any planet is going to let you take a child away from his mother who can give him the best advantages to live hand-to-mouth on a transport ship flying around the far reaches of space."

"Didn't know you thought so little of _Serenity_."

"I don't. You know what I mean."

"….I'm not gonna fight you for him. I wouldn't put Xander through that. I just want to have time with him. I don't want him growing up thinking his father's a stranger who comes to visit every so often. And I would try to give him the best life possible, too, you know!"

"I know. And as I said, I'm sure we can arrange something. Maybe something like what we had at the beginning. Eight weeks with me, and two weeks on _Serenity_ with you."

"I want a month."

"Do you really think you can keep this ship going for a month without at least one dangerous, illegal job? Because I have yet to see it."

"...This isn't fair."

"I know. And I am sorry."

_Na mei guan xi_—that has nothing to do with it

* * *

_June 2529_. _The Black…_

Xander Reynolds, the dark six year old amalgam of his two parents, rested his chin on his folded arms and opened and closed his mouth making his teeth clink while he waited on his cousin-not-cousin Max to finish his school work. "Are you done yet?"

Max, only a year older, was in just as much of a hurry to get to play with the best friend he rarely got to see. He craned his head back to look at his mother as she started making stew so that it would be done in time for dinner. "Mom, can I please go play? Please?"

River dried her hands on a dish towel and came to look at his homework. When she saw the amount he'd written on the piece of paper in front of him, she frowned. "Maxwell, you haven't even started your spelling."

"It's boring," her son whined.

"Ten words, ten times each. No playing until you're finished," she insisted. River smiled down at the other little boy. "Xander, perhaps you'd like to go up to the bridge with Dewey and play a game on the Cortex while Max does his work."

Xander let loose a mighty sigh, "All right," and sulked off to the bridge.

"Mom!" Max groaned at the loss of his friend.

Jayne walked in with Angel from the cargo bay stairwell in time to hear his son's protest whatever his mother had just done. "What's goin on?"

"Your son and I were having a conversation about priorities," River explained as she returned to chopping cubes of protein for the stew. She smiled as her eleven-year-old slid up next to her to see what she was doing.

Max huffed. "She won't let me go play with Xander even though I hardly ever get to see him. Instead I gotta do my stupid spelling."

Jayne looked down at Max's word list, and grunted "Why don'tcha let him go play? He can do this later."

"He needs to do this now."

"It's just spelling. Ain't like it's that important."

"Yes, it is." She sent her husband a significant look to call for backup on this. "He needs to learn if he is ever going to write a message, read one, issue a warning, look for something on the Cortex. He's seven, and he can barely read even simple words."

Jayne obviously missed the look. "Neither can I, an' it never hurt me."

"And you want your son to be the same?"

"Just sayin' there's worse things than not havin' a big vo-cabulary."

"See!" Max pouted. "This is dumb, and it's making you fight."

Angel left her mother's side and walked to the side of the table Xander had vacated a minute before. She leaned over the back of the chair, and looked into her little brother's blue eyes. "Do you think he needs glasses?"

Max made a face at her, as Jayne and River both considered her question. Angel decided to take matters into her own hands, and stepped a few feet away from the table. He held two fingers up, and asked, "How many?"

"Two," her brother said, bored.

Angel stepped back to the table holding three fingers a few inches from Max's face this time. "Now?"

"Gah!" Max tried to bat her hand away, but she kept it there. "Three."

"Okay, so he doesn't need glasses." She shrugged.

River waved Angel over and had her start cutting the protein while once again she wiped off her hands and came to the table intent on a more direct approach. She settled into the chair next to Max, and made him look at her. "Why, exactly, is reading hard for you?"

Max shrugged and kept his eyes on his knees. "I dunno. Just is. The letters squirm around. Whenever I try to write 'em, they look backwards. Doesn't make sense."

River had a flash of insight, and immediately turned to her husband. "Is that how it is for you?"

Jayne flopped back into one of the crash chairs, and shrugged. The hard, tense set of his jaw was no help when he gritted out, "What's it matter?

His wife sighed, and turned to her daughter. "Angel, would you please stay here, and when you're finished, put the meat on to boil. Max, come with me." She stood up, and held her hand out to her son. He took it, and they stepped back from the table. Then she looked back at the crash lounge. "Jayne?"

"I'm stayin' here," he shook his head.

River gave him one of her looks, and escorted Max up to the bridge. Once there, she apologized to the two boys who were already there. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but would you boys mind clearing the flight deck. I need to use the Cortex."

Dewey logged off the game he was playing hoping she didn't notice. "No problem."

"Can Max play yet?" Xander asked with bright eyes.

"Not yet," River said. "In a few minutes."

"I did like you asked," Dewey reported as he vacated her seat. "I corrected the nav trajectory by .37 degrees every twelve minutes to offset Lisbon's grav pull."

River smiled at the young man. "Thank you, Dewey. You're becoming quite the pilot. It must run in the Washburn family."

"That's what Mom said," the thirteen-year-old murmured with shrug.

After the two boys left, River sat in the copilot's chair and pulled Max up to sit in her lap. She wrapped her arms around the boy and leaned them both forward so she could start typing. A moment later she pulled up the Cortex and typed in her search.

"What are you looking for?"

"When you said that the letters squirm and look backwards, it reminded me of a classmate I had at The Bad Place," she explained. "He couldn't read well, but he could build reconstructions and models with amazing accuracy. He had dyslexia. I think you might have it, too. And I wouldn't be surprised if your father did, as well."

"So I'm sick?" Max asked.

"No, it's not a disease." She scooted the boy sideways in her lap so that she could look him in the eye. "Do you remember when Uncle Simon pulled up the model of a brain and showed you guys all the parts?"

"Yeah."

She tapped the side of his head. "What's this part?"

"The temporal lobe," Max recited.

"And what's housed in the temporal lobes?" She tweaked his ear to give him a hint.

"The auditory cortex!"

"That's right! You have a very good memory. Now, what cortex is back here?" she asked this time tapping the back of his head.

"The visual cortex."

"Correct. A person with dyslexia has a visual cortex that is wired differently than most people. You see three dimensions with remarkable accuracy, but when you try to decipher two dimensional images, like letters and numbers, your brain is unable to do so."

"So I'm just dumb."

"No, you are not dumb," she insisted. "Your brain just works differently than most peoples'."

"Like you?" Max frowned.

"No," she reassured him. "What you have, you were born with, and it doesn't make you crazy and have to go to sleep for a whole day. I am going to find the standardized test for dyslexia, and you are going to take it to see if my theory is confirmed. Then we can work on making learning to read easier for you."

"You mean I still gotta do homework?"

"Life is unfair."

* * *

_October 2532. The Black, going on a 3 week stretch…_

Angel reached under her mattress for her diary and found it missing. Or rather, she didn't find it, and assumed it was missing. She had good cause to guess who the little thief would be.

"Maxwell!" she shrieked as she tore through the lower dorms up to the mess.

"Max! I—am going—to _kill_ you—if you don't GIVE IT BACK!"

Max ran up from the stairwell, snickering, blue eyes shining, to sit quietly at the table in front of his Pop acting like he'd been there the whole time. Jayne looked up from Vera's barrel with an accusing raise of his brows. River, having heard Angel scream, left Mal and Dewey at the helm and came down to see if she could avert fratricide.

"What is going on?"

"Max stole my diary! _Again_!"

Jayne shot a look at his youngest. It was not an entirely unamused look. There was a bit of a smile to the expression of warning his son got.

River was not quite so entertained. "Maxwell?"

"I mighta borrowed it and read some and not put it back. I have to keep practicing 'cause of the dyslexia, an' all," He defended himself causing his Pop to chuckle under his breath.

"You little thief! Mom!"

"Max, you have to return you sister's diary before dinner, and you will not be having dessert tonight."

"Fine, I'll return it." He turned and stuck his tongue out at his sister. "I already memorized the good bits for when I need to blackmail you later."

"Uch! _Mom_!"

Her father rolled his eyes at the teen's antics. River tried to hold onto her temper, but the glare she angled at Jayne clearly stated who she thought was the real villain behind this.

"Hey, don't be lookin' at me," her husband defended himself. "This is smart-evil. He got this from you."

"That may be so, but you could jump in to co-parent at any time here, _zang fu_."

"What? He's bein' a little brother. Isn't this what you younger siblings do? Torment the older ones?"

Max sniggered in triumph.

Angel sucked in a wounded breath and glared lasers at her father. "I should have known you'd be on his side! You're not my real father, so why should you stick up for me, right?"

The room reverberated with stunned silence at her outburst. Angel's own eyes widened in horror at what had come out of her mouth. For a moment it looked like she was ask to retract it, but her spine straightened, and she refused to back down.

River could feel the sharp yellow pain leak from Jayne's side like a stab wound. She closed her eyes for a moment against the combined feelings of shock, anger, and disappointment before she could once again face her daughter. "_You_ are not coming to dinner at all this evening. Get your _yu zhe de pi gu_ to your room. I don't want to see you for the rest of the night."

Angel's face crumpled. "I hate you!"

"You're fourteen. You're entitled. Go!"

The girl's emotions broke in a sob before she could flee the room. The ends of her shoulder-length hair fluttered as she ran back down the stairs to the room she shared with Annabelle.

"Times like this, I understand why my parents wanted to send me away to boarding school," River muttered. She pulled in a calming breath, and turned to Jayne. He still wore the same staggered and sad expression Angel inflicted on him. She went around the back of his chair and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. "_Bao bei_, she didn't mean it."

"Then why'd she say it?"

"She was angry. And, as previously stated, she's fourteen. The whole 'Verse is against her. I would diagnose it as paranoia if it weren't for the hormones."

"I don't…I don't get it," Max warbled, no longer the confidant trickster. "What did she mean about Pop not being her real father?

"He is her real father."

"Just not by blood," Jayne murmured.

"Not important," River insisted.

"It might be to her now."

Max shook his head. "So, wait. What are you talking about? I'm confused."

River looked at her son and wondered how much he needed to know. Then, after sharing a look with Jayne, she began to explain exactly how their family had come together.

&&&

Dewey found Angel talking with Annabelle in the room across from Max's that the two Cobb children had once shared. The room itself was much different from what it had been before her brother moved out and the adult Cobbs moved up to the crew bunks. Angel had painted the walls purple, and the bedding over the new mattress matched. It looked like the room of a calm, sweet girl. Angel was slightly less than calm, and she was only sweet when she chose to be. At the moment, Dewey could hear his girlfriend venting to her younger cousin when he stopped outside the room.

"I hate Max! I hope he gets a debilitating disease that causes his skin to rot from his musculature and his exposed flesh to fester with maggots!"

"Wow. Very creative," Bella complimented.

Dewey leaned against the door frame cleared his throat. Angel quickly wiped the tears from her face before she turned to look at him, but her eyes were still red and puffy. She tried not to look like the spoiled brat she was, but Dewey was in love, not stupid.

"Hey, Annabelle," he asked, "you mind givin' us a minute."

"Sure," the twelve-year-old said as she stood up from her bed. "You two love birds take your time. And before you ask, yes, I'll stand lookout."

She stopped by the door and twiddled her fingers in a wave. As soon as Bella was outside, Dewey slid it shut behind her so that he and Angel could have a minute. They had a good system going with the preteen genius—they had a lookout to keep Jayne from barking at Dewey, and Annabelle was supplied with enough money to keep her in sketch pads and engineering manuals.

Dewey knelt down in front of Angel's bed as she folded her long legs to sit Indian-style. He took a minute to admire the stems her shorts showed off before he got to why he was there. "I heard most of what happened from the bridge. Your mom left me in charge when she heard you screaming at Max. As soon as I heard you run out, I asked Uncle Mal to take over."

She sniffed and pushed her hair out of her face. "I can't believe they both took his side."

"Well, you were kind of acting like a real_ yāo_."

"Not you, too!"

"You basically accused your dad of not loving you because you don't share DNA. He and I may not agree on a lot, but you're one thing we do. He loves you a lot, and you were a _cu cao de po fu_ to him." He paused to think about what he just said. "And if you tell him I said anything even remotely sounding like I defended him, I'm denying it."

"I didn't mean it," she mumbled. "It's not like I don't know he loves me. I do. It's just that sometimes it seems like he loves Max more because they _do_ share genetic material. They're always going on about how Max gets this from Daddy, and this from Momma, and no, he gets that from you…" She paused to breathe. "And then Daddy gets that stupid, proud look on his face when Max does something completely annoying, and even when he doesn't say it, you know he's thinking 'That's my boy!'"

Dewey had to agree. It was a pretty stupid face Jayne made. "Yeaaaaah, but I still think you hurt him."

Angel pulled her knees up to her chin, and wrapped her arms around them. "I didn't want to hurt him. Well, not a lot, anyway."

He moved to sit next to her on the bed and draped his arm around Angel's shoulders. He smiled when she cuddled into him. "I know. You're not normally a _po fu_, just today."

"Thank you _so much_." She jabbed him in the stomach. The light moment disintegrated when Angel bit her lip and looked up at him. "But Dewey, Max said he memorized what was in my diary."

Dewey pulled away from her to stare at her face, stricken. "What kinda stuff did you put in there?"

"Sort of…everything."

"…Last Saturday under the stairs?"

"Yeah. Well, I mean, nothing _much_ happened. You're probably safe."

Angel kept saying wasn't ready for sex yet, though Dewey sometimes thought he would scream if he had to keep backpedaling when things were starting to get the least bit good. Then last Saturday, Angel finally let him get his hand up the front of her shirt. But if Jayne found out, that hand was going to get chopped off. Dewey was rather fond of having two hands. He'd gotten all used to them now. It would be a shame having to start over.

"How about you leave your brother to me from now on?" he suggested already planning the various forms of torture he was going to enact on the boy.

Angel grinned and kissed him. "My hero. Saving his own neck from my big, scary Daddy."

That reminded him of his original intention for coming to her room, and he looked back at her win all seriousness. "A daddy you need to apologize to."

With a sigh and roll of her eyes, Angel flopped sideways on her bed. She growled something into her pillow then turned over so that she was lying on her back. "I know, I know, I will…." She blew a lock of hair out of her face. "Momma's pretty mad at me, too. She said she didn't want to see me for the rest of the day."

Dewey crawled over her with a grin. "I wouldn't want to see ya, either, but you're so damn cute I keep comin' back."

She giggled and wrapped her arms around his neck to pull him down for a kiss. A few minutes later, light knocking interrupted them just before Dewey's hand rediscovered its new favorite place. Annabelle whispered through the door to alert them.

"Sorry, guys, but I can hear Uncle Jayne clomping down the stairs. I think Dewey ought to not be here when he arrives."

Dewey groaned, and pulled himself away. He made a funny frustrated face at the door that made Angel smile before he ran down the hall to the common room. Angel hurriedly rearranged her T-shirt and rubbed at her lips so it wouldn't look like she'd been making out while Annabelle settled on the floor in front of her cousin. She didn't bother to get comfy; she knew Uncle Jayne would kick her out as soon as he got here so that he and Angel could talk.

But still, before that happened, she had to say, "You and Dewey are really gross, you know that?"

"You're just jealous."

Annabelle stuck her tongue out just as another knock, heavy but hesitant, sounded on their door. "Oh, please, let me get it."

_yu je de pi gu_—childish butt

_yāo—_monster, witch, devil

_cu cao de po fu_—rude shrew

* * *

_July 2534. The Black…_

The whole crew was anxious, but for once it was in a good, happy way. Worry danced with excitement all that week as Dewey packed his belongings. He was accepted into Tenaka's Inner and Outer Atmospheric Flight Academy on Persephone, and would disembark the next morning when they landed.

When he'd come to _Serenity_ as a little boy, there had been an unspoken hope that a talent for flying would run in the Washburn family, but Zoë was careful that he never felt pressured into taking on Wash's role. Since they all spent time on the bridge at some point, all the second generation could fly, but Dewey had shown a true aptitude. And it was something he grew to love. He'd taken his mom and the Captain aside after his Secondary Equivalency Test scores came in and told them of his plans to become a pilot.

Now the time had come for him to actually leave _Serenity_, and sadness fogged over the excitement that had been rampant upon news of Dewey's admission. No one on the crew liked the idea of one of their own moving away, even if it was for the best. The adults were finally facing the fact that their children couldn't simply stay on the ship forever. They would all have to grow up, and Dewey, being the oldest, had to set a good example.

The only person on the crew who was never happy to hear the news that he was leaving was Angel. She thought her heart would split down the middle when he left. It was coming up on midnight according to the ship. They would be landing in less than six hours. She only had so much time.

Angel snuck out of her room as soon as she heard Max's breathing even out. The ship display showed 00:30. Creeping down the hall to the stairs leading to the upper level, she made sure to keep her footfalls light. Once she had made it to the crew dorms, she popped the hatch on Dewey's bunk (the one right next to his mom's, two bunks down from her parents) easily because he never bothered to lock it. She sent up a quick prayer that her mother was deeply asleep, or at least wouldn't tell Daddy what Angel was up to if she happened to over-feel something, and then descended into the dark room.

Her knees and hands were shaking as she climbed down the ladder. It was funny, she thought. After all the times that she and Dewey had come close to having sex, she was still nervous. Kind of silly really.

Angel tucked a strand of hair back, and closed the hatch. She froze as Dewey made a sound and turned over. He was always a light sleeper. It was something she'd counted on, him waking up once she was in his bunk, but not this soon. She was supposed to have a time to take off her tank top and pajama pants, and crawl under the covers before he realized there was someone else there. She had it all planned out. He was wrecking it.

"Mmm? Who's 'ere?"

"Um. It's me. It's Angel." She took a few steps toward him, her hands fisting and thumbs nervously rubbing her second index knuckle as Dewey pushed himself up on his bed, the t-shirt he wore even in sleep to cover the burn scars on his back rumpled.

"What're y'doin' down here? Something goin' on?" he asked as his voice became steadier. He ran a hand over his eyes.

"No, no. Nothing like that. I just, eh…I was—I wanted to…" She was babbling, so she stopped and took a breath. This might not have started like she planned, but she could still say what she had wanted to. And then get to the most important reason why she was here.

"Dewey, I wanted to tell you how proud I am of you, that you got into flight school. You're going to be a great pilot. I mean, you've been helping Momma fly since you were twelve, and I know she and Uncle Mal trust you with _Serenity_ without question."

"Thanks," he drew the word out. "So, you came down here to congratulate me and wish me luck? This couldn't have waited until the morning, Ange?"

She frowned at him. "That wasn't all I wanted to say. I wanted…I—I love you," she blurted out in a rush. "I love you so much, and I hate that you're leaving me, even for a little while. You've been my best friend since before I can remember, and my _duì xiàng_ for the past five years, and I love you, and we're going to get married someday, so I thought now we could…I want to make love with you. Tonight."

For a few long seconds there was silence. This was not the reception Angel had been looking for, and the longer it took Dewey to speak, the less confident she became.

"Um, are you going to say anything? Or not, I mean we can just on with the sex, if you wanted."

"Jesus Christ, Angel, you've spent too much time around your dad."

"Can we please refrain from talking about either of my parents right now?"

"Angel, we're not having sex."

She tried out what she hoped was a seductive grin. "Well, not yet."

"Not ever," he said, his face serious. Dewey stood and held his hands, palms up, in appeal for her to understand. "Look…what you said, some of it's true. I do love you. And we have been together for years, but we're not going any further."

Angel was in a fog. Her limbs felt weighted and wooden, and there was a vice around her chest that stopped her from taking a full breath. He couldn't possibly be serious. She loved him, he loved her. Why would he be breaking up with her? It made no sense.

"Ange, don't look at me like that," Dewey begged, but kept his distance. "This wasn't like it was an easy decision to make, you know?"

"No. I don't. I don't understand this at all."

He sighed and sat back down on his bed. He ran a hand over his bed-mussed red hair until it truly looked like a small bonfire. Angel loved it when Dewey looked like that—especially when they'd just got done making out—and even now she wanted to be the one to run her fingers over his hair to smooth it down. Make him look presentable.

Dewey sighed, and looked up at her. "We've been together since we were kids, practically since we were babies. And it's not a big surprise. We're all we've ever really had available to each other."

"You could have ditched me for Annabelle," she snapped.

"Yeah, I guess I could have, but even that was slim pickin's," he snapped back. He shrugged. "I'm just being honest, Angel. Face it: We're all we've ever known. There was nobody else here to get a crush on, or date, or mess around with."

"Is that all we did?" Angel threw her hands up and walked in front of him. "Date and mess around?"

"You know what I mean," Dewey muttered. "And that's not my point. My point is that now I'm going to have other options. I don't want to go away for months—longer! Since I'll be getting a job on another boat when I graduate. And you'll still be here, and I don't want to end up cheating on you when I'm gone."

"I can't believe you're actually planning on cheating," she choked as tears stung her eyes and her face burned.

"I'm not planning on it, but I'm not stupid enough to think that I won't meet other women. Women who aren't you, or Annabelle, and the odds are I'm going to want to spend time with them. If we're dating, and you obviously think we're gonna get married, then it would be unfair to both of us."

"We _are_ going to get married," she insisted, jabbing her finger in his face. "I _saw_ it! I saw it like I saw I was going to have a brother, and that he'd be a big doofus. Like I saw Auntie 'Nara leave, and when those men tried to ambush us on Verbena. I saw us, married, and kids. A girl and two boys."

He looked away. "Well, you saw wrong."

She'd never seen wrong before. Sure Angel had been able to avert some of the worse things she'd seen, but she'd never seen something that hadn't at least tried to come to pass.

Could Dewey be right, she wondered. Could she have wanted to see them married and together forever so badly that she imagined a future for them? Angel hated the term "vision" for what she saw, but it was as close as she could come within the limitations of human speech. In reality, it was more like her mind fast forwarded through time to a point in the future and took in the details from sight to smell and texture. When she'd seen herself and Dewey in the future, it had certainly seemed like a genuine experience, right down to the annoyance she'd felt at the antics of her youngest son.

"Please…just go."

Angel realized her gaze had dropped to the floor, and pulled it up to look Dewey in the face since he wouldn't meet her eye. "You mean it. You want me to go. You're breaking up with me."

"Yeah, I am."

She wished she had a shoe on because Angel felt the powerful need to throw something at him. "Why are you doing this _now_? You've had weeks, and you wait until I come to your room to tell me. Were you going to tell me at all, or just send a Wave once you hit land?"

Dewey's face heated. Angel could see his pale skin pink as she glared. "I, uh, was actually planning on telling you tomorrow morning," he confessed. "Like a bandage, you know. Rip it off all at once with me leaving."

"You rutting bastard," she sobbed, the tears in her eyes finally spilling down her cheeks. "You said you'd love me forever."

Angel ran up the ladder, down the stairs to her room, and didn't care how much noise she made as she slammed her door and flung herself onto her bed. She pulled her pillow to her face as she sobbed.

Dewey left the next morning without saying good-bye to her.

_duì xiàng_—partner/boyfriend/girlfriend

* * *

_January 2535. The Black…_

Angel called for her family's attention during dessert—strawberry shortcake made with ingredients picked up with money from their last train heist—and everyone waited to hear what she had to say. She's already discussed—and argued—her plans with her parents, and now she was going to tell the rest of her loved ones what she planned to do with the rest of her life. It was Dewey who had led the way, and hopefully in Angel's leaving it would open the pass further for Annabelle whose goals were far grander than Angel's own.

"You all know how I passed my equivalency exams a few months ago. I've been thinking about what to do from here on out, and I made a decision. I want to be a teacher."

Everyone reacted with the expected approval, but her parents already looked like they were bracing to have a broken bone set sans anesthesia. Angel cast a quick glance to her right where they sat, and sent them a smile.

"But wait," Aunt Kaylee said. "To be a teacher you need to get extra schoolin' don'tcha?"

Angel took a deep breath. "Yes. And while I could conceivably take the classes via the Cortex, I decided that if I'm to teach in a school room, I should have some experience in them as a student."

There. She'd dropped the other shoe. The older crew had a moment of silence as they digested the news that the first baby ever to grace _Serenity_ was about to leave.

Uncle Simon looked at his sister. "Are you really going to let her do this?"

"I don't particularly want to," River answered. "We had a lengthy discussion about her options, but I'm still scared for her."

"And I told you," Angel reminded her mother, "if there's any threat from the government, they're probably looking for a Tam. I'm a Cobb."

"And I told you, they have the marriage license on file, as well as the adoption papers your dad signed. They know you're a Cobb."

Jayne jumped in between his two girls. "Thought we already decided? Angel's goin' to one a'them schools she applied to, and she's gonna send us weekly Waves. The second we cain't get in touch, we ride in like the gorram cavalry whether she needs a rescue or not."

His wife still didn't look convinced, though his daughter grinned her gratitude for the assistance.

Zoë stuck her fork into the strawberries-and-whipped cream-covered pound cake with a soft smile of her own. "So, what are the schools you applied to?"

Glad for the change of topic to one that was more supportive of her decision, Angel recited her choices and reasons for choosing them. "I sent in my applications to four schools that have the best courses for my budget; two on Persephone, one on Boros, and another on Parthenon. I'm leaning toward Parthenon right now because their program actually specializes in preparing teachers for schools on the Border or Rim where the equipment and texts aren't as up-to-date."

And, of course, Parthenon was not Persephone. Persephone was where Dewey was, and she couldn't bear the thought of running into him, even accidentally. She didn't want him thinking she was following him.

"But didn't you say you wanted to go with the program on Persephone for learning disabilities?" Annabelle asked.

The adults looked at the fifteen-year-old, and the young prodigy ducked her head. They weren't supposed to know that Angel had run her idea and all of her arguments past Annabelle before she'd presented her plan passed her parents. Woops. She looked up at her cousin and shrugged an apology.

"I do," Angel said. The words were an answer to Bella's question, but her tone was more of an accusation. Then she cleared her throat and explained to the rest, "One of the schools on Persephone offers a course in diagnosing and teaching children with learning disorders like ADHD, or Tourette's Syndrome…or dyslexia."

And there was the real reason she wanted to take that course. Having a brother who constantly struggled to figure out what the simplest news flag or text Wave said had been part of the reason Angel had decided to become a teacher. If someone who knew what they were looking for had been there when her Daddy was little, he wouldn't have been treated like an idiot, and he might have stayed in school longer. He was only 54—still technically middle aged when the life expectancy for a man was well into his hundreds—but his body was already starting to break down after a lifetime of physical strain, beatings, and wounds. Jayne Cobb wasn't dumb, Angel knew, he just hadn't been given much of a chance to do anything that required more brain and less brawn only partly because he was a great deal of brawn.

Both Max and Jayne rolled their eyes at the last disorder. Angel only stuck her tongue out at her brother since Daddy was awfully techy about his reading problem. The rest of the family, however, understood Angel's silent reasoning.

"I was thinking that after I finish school on Parthenon, I could take this course as an adjunct on Persephone."

The Captain nodded. "It's a good plan."

"You're gonna be such a good teacher, Angel," Aunt Kaylee gushed. "Whenever we go into town, the little kids always end up loving you. An' I remember how you used to help Max and Annabelle with their schooling, and Xander when he brought his work with him."

"And speaking of schooling," Annabelle interjected. "Now that Angel and Dewey have both left the nest, so to speak, we can start to talk about what I'm going to do when I take my exams next year."

"We'll talk about this then," her father shot her down.

The teen turned to him making her blue eyes as big as possible, and pleaded. "Dad, come on. It'll be incredibly difficult to get a university to accept me at only sixteen. We have to start petitioning now! Auntie R said so."

Simon glared across the table at his little sister. "Oh did she?"

River shook her head. "I did not! Bella asked what I was planning on doing if I hadn't gone to the other place. I told her how Grandpa Max and I started petitioning for admittance into several universities when I was still ten or eleven. I knew that having a very young student would be an adjustment, so we thought that giving my top choices early notification would be prudent. A few of them were very disappointed when I chose another venue to continue my education."

Simon turned back to his daughter. "And when did this conversation happen?"

Annabelle blushed. "About six months ago."

"Uh-huh. And how many schools have you been in contact with since then?"

She sunk further in her seat and scratched the last tine of her fork against her empty plate. "Three. St. Bertrand on Londinium, U of Alexandria on Bellerophon, and Allied Universities Corps Science and Engineering Department on Bernadette."

"Uh, Miss Annabelle Lee?" the Captain called. "Aren't those all in the Core?"

Before she could answer her godfather, her Dad said, "Absolutely not!"

"Bella, baby," her mom tried to soften the objection, "it's not that we don't want you to go to school and follow your dreams, it's just…the Core is an awful long way from home."

"But the best engineering schools are in the Core!" she protested. "I want to design spaceships. Not one company is going to look at me if I don't have a good education." She turned her stubborn pout on Simon. "If I wanted to be a doctor instead of an engineer, you wouldn't think twice about sending me to the Core."

"Not true. I wouldn't send a daughter of mine anywhere near those phony, hypocritical, money-obsessed, _ta ma yao ming_ planets."

The sudden burst of laughter from the Captain, Zoë, and Jayne seemed rather inappropriate to Simon and Annabelle, but the rest of the crew got the joke.

"It took you eighteen years to say somethin' that damaging about them cushy worlds you come from, but when you finally got goin', you went," Jayne said.

Simon deflated amid the laughter, and with a slightly cooler head, he told Bella, "We'll talk about this again after you take your exams."

"That's not a no," Bella chimed, smiling. "I'll file it under 'maybe' and I'll have Angel help me with winning arguments."

"I'm assuming you helped my daughter with hers?" River asked.

The cousins shared a smile.

Max saw his parents and relatives grimace, and he grinned. "Aren'tchu glad I don't have any higher aspirations?"

_ta ma yao ming_—damn dangerous

* * *

_January 2539. Beaumond…_

River and Jayne rarely fought as a couple. Argued, yes. Disagreed, absolutely. Threatened each other with sharp objects or guns, occasionally. Actually fought, no; but when they did, it was almost invariably about Max.

"C'mon. A month?"

"Yes, Jayne, a month." River crossed her arms and stared her husband down. He'd been arguing with her ever since she grounded their son after the boy snuck out of Serenity against his mother's wishes without leaving any kind of note, and then did not return until past midnight local time. "He is sixteen. He needs to learn some responsibility for his actions."

"It ain't like he killed anybody," Jayne argued.

"No, he just made me fear for his life."

"Only 'cause you're so damn dramatic," he muttered. "He's a kid. He oughtta be doin' stupid shit like sneakin' out to meet up with girls."

"That doesn't mean he shouldn't get punished for it!"

"A month is too long. Two weeks woulda been fine."

"Two weeks in the Black is hardly anything," River said. "He's gone that long before for much less serious infringements. One month. No Cortex. No music set."

Jayne slammed his hand on the wall above their bed. "_Tsway niou_!"

River stepped right in front of him. "Excuse me? What part of that was bullshit, in your opinion?"

"You keep punishin' him for the least little thing, and coddlin' him when ya ain't punishin' him, you're gonna turn that boy inta a ruttin' pansy. You want him to end up like your brother?"

"You mean responsible? Considerate? Loyal? Dependable? _Fei hua_, why would I ever want Maxwell to be anything like that?" she ribbed.

"I mean, someone who's gotta rely on other people the second they step outta their own home. You know this crew carried Simon for a long damn time after he oughtn't'a needed to be carried."

"I didn't realize you still held my brother in so little regard. I foolishly thought you two were friends."

"Don't want Max bein' a burden when he's gotta go out in the world," Jayne clarified.

"Neither do I, which is why he is grounded for a _month_. What crew or future employer would hire someone who cannot be trusted to take orders, and instead runs off to be…wherever the _guay_ he was!"

"He's a kid," Jayne growled down at her. "Let him be one."

"He's a kid who needs to learn a lesson about consequences," River hissed back, "not a miniature you who gets to live the adolescence you didn't get."

Jayne opened his mouth to tell his wife how the hell out of line she was when the hatch to their bunk opened. Both Cobbs turned to watch a pair of black combat boots two sizes smaller than Jayne's and still growing climb down the latter. Skinny legs in faded black denim, and the lanky torso in a magenta T-shirt that both his parents hoped he would realize was hideous followed the boots. Until finally the shaggy mop of wood-brown hair crested the opening, and Max himself walked into his parents' room.

"I could hear you from my bunk, so I'm sure Zoë's pissed at the noise. So I, uh, decided to come and finish this particular fight, if you don't mind?"

"By all means," his mother said, her icy veneer warming as she found what Max was there for.

Jayne shrugged with his arms closed over his chest. "Go for it."

Max fidgeted from foot to foot before he got all his words straight. He'd come down with only the vaguest of plans, and now that he was here, he realized how hard this was going to be.

"Okay, so the way I figure the percentage, Mom was more or less right this time." He chanced a quick look up at his parents to see how they took that. Mom was pleased, but Pop looked mighty confused and a bit offended. "I prob'ly shouldn't'a snuck out like that. I was supposed to stay here this trip. I was in the wrong.

"But, uh, Pop's not completely wrong, neither," Max cut in on his mother's self-congratulations. "You do kinda treat me like a baby from time to time."

"Do I?" River winced. She really was trying not to screw motherhood up. She'd done so well with Angel, she thought. Max was just a different bolt on the prow altogether.

"Uh, that would be a yes," Max confirmed. Jayne smirked at River, and nodded to his son for the boy to continue. "It's just that there are times... Look, I was hopin' you two could do a compromise kinda thing."

"Compromise how?" River asked warily.

"I was thinking that I could do your punishment now—the no Cortex, no music, grounded for a month thing—this time. But next time I do somethin' stupid, we get to go with Pop's punishment."

"It almost sounds like you're getting ready to make trouble again," his mother sighed.

"I just know myself purdy well." He grinned and shrugged. "After all, look who my parents are."

Said parents shared a smirk, and Jayne unhooked his arms. He sat down on the head of the slim bed and regarded his son with a wry frown. "Looks like you learned how ta sweet talk last time you went to visit Xander at the Trainin' House."

Max's grin widened. "It's been some very educational trips."

River didn't want to know too much about those trips. She trusted Inara to make sure Max stayed out of trouble, but she didn't want to think about what experiences her son might be picking up from the male Companions-in-training. She preferred to think of him as her baby boy for as long as possible.

"Very well," she agreed. "So long as your next malefaction isn't within your month-long period of grounding."

"Agreed," he said. "Pop?"

Jayne waved a hand in agreement. "Whatever you say."

"Good." He nodded to the both of them and started back up the hatch to his bunk—the one Dewey Washburn had vacated several years earlier. He stopped with a foot on the latter. "I still get meals, right?"

River looked at him like he was an idiot, but a cute idiot whose diapers she once changed.

&&&

_7 weeks later; Greenleaf…_

The job had gone well. No one shot. No high speed chase. No double cross. And no one had said anything about how much the two gun hands looked alike, which was a first. Usually pointing out that Jayne and Max shared a similarity was the first thing the bad guys did, so they knew who to shoot to get the most reaction.

And, best of all, they had the rest of the day off. There was a reason Greanleaf was named what it was. The place was covered in tall forests. It was a perfect place for picnics, longs walks, and a smoke—provided the smoker was careful.

Jayne pulled his cigar out of his inner breast pocket, and dug in his jacket for matches. He rounded the side of Serenity, away from the bay doors as well as anything flammable that might drip from the wings, and found he had company. Max leaned back against the hull taking a long drag of the cigarette he held in his fingers.

"That a new habit?"

The boy sucked in too much in surprise and started coughing. "_Ni ta ma de_! Pop! Don't sneak about like a freak, will ya?"

"I wasn' sneakin'. You need to get'cher ears checked," Jayne said as he walked over and leaned on the bulkhead next to Max. He stuck the stogie in his mouth when finally found his matches, and lit the end before he turned back to his son "So, you gonna answer my question?"

"Uhhhhh," Max trailed off. He hadn't raised the cigarette to his lips since his Pop came over. "It's sorta new. I picked it up on Paquin."

Jayne grunted. "Well, ya did say you was learnin' all kindsa new stuff when you stayed with Xander."

They were both quiet for a bit while they listened to the birds and cicadas in the trees. A cricket chirped by Max's foot. The wind picked up, and the many leaves applauded the natural symphony. Jayne sucked on his cigar.

Finally, Max couldn't bear it anymore. "Are you gonna yell at me or somethin'?"

Jayne shrugged and looked down—thought not far down—into his son's worried face. "Don't feel I got much leeway," he gestured with his cigar, "d'you?"

Max was willing to go with that. He grinned, and took another drag of his cigarette. When he looked back, Pop was frowning, and Max shrugged. "What?"

"Them ain't those green, toilet-licker cigarettes, are they?"

The teen laughed. "Nah, Pop. Good ole fashioned tobacco."

Jayne nodded his approval, and they lapsed back into silence as they listened to the green world around them. Several minutes later, they heard River's voice from around the front of Serenity.

"Jayne? Kaylee and I are going to g—" She stopped when she saw her son and what he was holding. Her face went red, and she planted her hands on her hips. "Maxwell Thomas Cobb! Wh—"

"Baby, you remember that deal we made?"

River choked on what she was about to say. It bottled up in her as the two Cobb men watched her face get more and more tense. Then she threw her hand in the air, and shouted, "You're both going to get emphysema and die!" and stalked off in a swirl of skirt and salt-n-pepper hair.

As soon as she was out of sight, they both let loose barrel laughs.

_Tsway niou_ —bullshit [ie: (Oh, what a load of) "Bullshit!"

_Fei hua_—nonsense

_guay_—hell

* * *

_December 21, 2539. Recently re-founded Haven mining colony…_

"Do you Donald Reginald Washburn take Angel to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and hold, love and cherish above all others, to honor and respect, for richer or poorer, in health and in sickness, during good times and times of strife, for as long as you both live?"

"I do," the redheaded groom promised, though five years earlier he'd protested this event ever happening.

The Shepherd marrying the young couple turned next to the bride.

"And do you, Angel Rosemary Cobb take Donald to be your lawfully wedded husband…."

She didn't hear the rest of it. She didn't need to. She already knew the answer. She'd known the answer since she was four and Dewey had kissed her for the first time. She'd seen it, and she knew she was never wrong.

Angel glanced out at the faces of her family and friends. Her Daddy, Momma and Max sat in the first row. Daddy didn't look exactly happy, but she knew he was. Momma was crying. Zoë and Mal sat next to them. Neither cried, but Angel thought she saw her new mother-in-law work hard at keeping her face controlled. Aunt Kaylee, Uncle Simon, Annabelle, Aunt Inara, and Xander sat in the next row, all shining at her. Then came the rows of new friends she'd made on Haven, and Tamara Cassidy, the other teacher at the small school, who had housed her and help Angel make friends when she first arrived.

She heard the preacher at last end his question, and she turned back to grin at the only boy she'd ever loved, and said, "I do."


End file.
